One of the key missions of the economic facilitation component of the Rural Development Program is to make the connection between the market and the producer in the border villages. Somewhere along the line, that connection has been disrupted. The Armenia Fund needs to replace the missing link in the severed relationship. It needs to become the mechanism that makes the connections, creates the fabric of the new cooperation.

The main problem is that the border villagers lack the information and know how on the whole spectrum of agricultural activities, starting from issues concerning the cultivation stage of certain crops and up to cost calculation and pricing. This situation is not exclusive to the Khashtarak cluster communities but also the border villages in general.

For example, Ditavan community members that are employed in agriculture are mainly growing tobacco which already has a limited but established market for Ditavan and a settled supply and demand mechanism. Financial return of the enterprise is minimal. It is also highly labor demanding. One of the possible solutions in similar situations is offering a less labor demanding and more promising alternative, which would create a wider possibility for involvement of the population and thus have a more significant economic impact. For example, presentation of the technology of growing other crops that have less manual labor requirements thus increasing the possibility of cultivating bigger plots.

Below are the graphics of “Greening Armenia” The Challenge of the Millennium by Ken Swanberg and Vardan Torchyan.

Another important aim of the Program is to give people the life experience which will allow them to carry on successful business both in short term and long term perspective and continue functioning after The Armenia Fund has completed the work in the cluster. At the same time, we have to take into account the possible pitfalls and limitations because we want people to have experience of success, of winning, of accomplishment, not failure and disenchantment.