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16.09.2009 12:53
 On September 16, 2009, U.S. Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch, RA Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan, RA Minister of Agriculture Gerasim Alaverdyan, Aragatsotn marzpet Sargis Sahakyan, Kotayk Marzpet Kovalenko Shahgeldyan, and other RA and U.S. delegation members held a joint working visit to the Arzni-Shamiram main canal section rehabilitated under the MCA-Armenia Program. The project site represents a test area used to determine engineering and construction best practices to be used during subsequent main canal rehabilitation works. More than 30 communities and 60,000 people in both marzes will benefit from the improvements in this canal.
The Arzni-Shamiram canal is one of six main canals within the Armenian main canal network that will be rehabilitated under the MCA-Armenia Program’s Irrigated Agriculture Project (IAP). Rehabilitation and construction works are contracted to a consortium led by the French company
“SADE” and its Armenian subcontractor “SHMSH-23” of Vayots Dzor. Rehabilitation and reconstruction works focus on canal sections and water-management structures which are in poor to very poor condition.
The delegation continued their trip to the community of Karbi in Aragatsotn marz for an informative tour of the new agricultural technologies being utilized by a farmer who underwent water-management training. MCA-Armenia funded the installation of the drip irrigation system which has allowed the farmer to transition to more efficient and cost-effective irrigation practices.
This is only one of many demonstration sites where technical equipment funded by the MCA-Armenia Program is explained to the farmers. Visits to these sites are complementary to in-class training sessions, providing farmers with hands-on evidence of how the new approaches taught to them work in practice.
To date over 30,000 farmers in more than 300 communities in Armenia have received training in water management technologies and higher value agriculture within the Agriculture project of the Program. This includes around 5000 farmers in 60 communities of Kotayk and Aragatsotn marzes.
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