NEWS RELEASE
United Nations Development Programme Armenia
Community Development Project
14 Petros Adamyan Str., Yerevan 0010, Armenia
Contact: Zara Amatuni
Tel: 374-10-56-60-73
Fax: 374-10-54-38-11
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
October 10, 2007
UNDP Armenia Helps Kornidzor Community of Syunik Marz to Establish
Revolving Seed Fund**
**
Start-up business initiatives launched under the UNDP Community
Development Project in rural communities of Armenia are mostly based on
direct involvement of the local population supported and guided by the
municipal authorities. This year, a revolving seed fund will be
established in Kornidzor community of Syunik marz. UNDP Armenia has just
finished distributing high quality wheat seeds under the contracts
signed between Kornidzor municipality and the community households. A
total of 36 tons of seeds provided to the community are elite class
winter seeds which have been purchased by around 100 households of
Kornidzor.
This is an innovative business program aimed at creating new income
opportunities for the rural population. It is planned that as soon as
the first crop is reaped, the yielded seed will be sold to households of
this and other neighboring communities. Next year, as per the signed
contracts Kornidzor municipality will collect the initial installments
>From all the households engaged in the project, assess the demand for
the year and purchase another quantity of wheat seed. Through this
annually rotating cycle the revolving seed fund will be sustained thus
promising higher revenues to the community and ensuring proper
cultivation of their owned arable lands.
Kornidzor people are highly enthusiastic about the project and view it
as another step towards the economic revival of their community.
`We never believed such projects could ever reach our village’, says
Gravik Amaryan, the village dweller, `And now thanks to this cooperation
with UNDP, we have got access to gas heating and can even launch a joint
enterprise with the fellow-villagers’.
`This opportunity is so important for my family’, adds Karen Nersisyan,
a father of four children, `I’ll surely plant the wheat and hope the
nature will help us gather in a good harvest’.
Recently, UNDP Community Development Project has completed another
project in Kornidzor on intra-community gas network construction. The
gas network has covered the entire territory of the community inhabited
by around 1200 residents.
For more information on UNDP activity in Armenia, please visit our
website at