Farmers from different settlements of Armenia, engaged in green, organic agriculture, displayed their products in the Mega Mall on February 4, 5, 11 and 12 within the framework of the “Green Weekend” project, presenting the advantages, usefulness and features of green agriculture to visitors.

The event was organized within the European Union “Green Agriculture Initiative in Armenia” (EU-GAIA) project. It is funded by the European Union and co-financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation. The EU-GAIA project is implemented by the Austrian Development Agency and the United Nations Development Program in Armenia. The government partner of the project is the RA Ministry of Economy.

One of the beneficiaries of the project, Levon Paronyan, has a farm in Zarinja community of Aragatsotn region. “Levon Farm”, founded by him, offers chickpeas, bulgur, lentil from an ecologically clean environment. The founder of the company is proud that their products have an organic certificate, and the lands they own have the corresponding certificate.

He notes that the crop without fertilizers is not more expensive in terms of cost, just the yield is slightly lower. Levon Paronyan states that they are thinking about expanding the products they have plans to produce oat flakes.

EU-GAIA representatives say the visitors to “Green Weekend” showed great interest in organic food.

Pascal Bokkers, EU-GAIA Project Manager, notes that with such events, they want to increase public awareness of green agriculture, help consumers get healthy products, grown with less pesticides and harmful substances.

The project has been operating since 2019, and during this time they managed to make the idea of organic agriculture and its usefulness available to the public.