KARO KARAPETYAN, 50, PLANTS FIRST OLIVE GARDEN IN ARMENIA

12:07 . 26/06

The 7ha olive garden in Araksashen, Meghry region, the only one in
the republic, yields at least 10 tons of harvest annually. A resident
of Lehvaz village, Karo Karapetyan, 50, planted a garden of 3400
olive trees of two types- Askolana and Seveliano in the place of
a former dried vineyard. The olive trees were brought from Spain,
Armenpress reports.

It took the farmer four years to have an olive garden.

“At the beginning I planted 7590 trees, unfortunately all were
frostbitten. I tried again in 2003. This time, hail damaged the trees.

I got the first harvest only in 2010,’~R Karo Karapetyan told the
visitors.

According to him, each tree yields 20-30 kg harvest annually. One
of the two types is very oily. Studies have shown the pulp of that
type contains up to 70 percent olive oil, the stone containing 27-33
percent oil.

Although the harvest is ecologically pure, Karapetyan faces a problem
of selling the yield.

“Currently, I have to sell the yield to resellers at a price of 1200
AMD per one kg. In Armenia it is still difficult to sell olive at a
normal price,” Karapetyan noted.

The olive harvest starts in mid September in Araksashen , while in
Spain and Greece olive is harvested in November.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress