Due to the near constant rains that have hit Armenia over the past several days, fruit orchards in the Ararat valley have suffered substantial losses. High moisture levels have resulted in a number of fungal diseases.

Artur Ayvazyan, who heads the Division of Agriculture and Environment at the Armavir Regional Administration, told Hetq that local villagers had been distributed brochures as to what herbicides should be used to prevent the diseases.

Mr. Ayvazyan wasn’t able to give us an approximate monetary damage amount but given that there are some 8,200 hectares of fruit orchards in the province the damages could reach staggering proportions.

He said that the forecast for this year’s pear crop was about 20,000-25,000 tons. This is much lower than the 40,000 tons originally stated.