One of the major tasks of the Rural Development Program is to provide the members of Armenia’s border villages with access to information and education, which many of them are deprived of because of economic and social restraints. Thus, the villagers lack the know-how necessary for conducting successful agricultural and other activities.

The methods currently used are downright outdated and hinder the development of local businesses. There is very limited possibility of self education as the villages simply don’t have even the basic literature on the practical topics such as growing a certain crop or taking care of the cattle. The efforts by different governmental and non governmental structures to conduct trainings and seminars have been uncoordinated and their overall impact - limited.

To solve the issue we are in constant contact both the Ministry of Agriculture and the specialized NGOs to find the right specialists who would provide up to date materials for the creation of vocational training printed and multimedia content. At the same time, it is very important to have guest experts from Armenia and abroad conduct on the ground practical seminars and trainings. We also talked to major TV stations who expressed readiness to provide their technical capacity in filming and producing vocational training DVDs.

Ditavan village seminar

On November 20, 2007, The Armenia Fund Rural Development Program staff and representatives of the Armenian Technology Group (ATG) visited Khashtarak cluster’s Ditavan community. The purpose of the visit was the organization of a seminar with the local farmers on proper pesticide use.

The event is yet another element in The Armenia Fund’s complex initiative
of dynamic cooperation with local and international organizations. The aim is to coordinate and focus their efforts in Armenia’s border areas.

The seminar was presented by Rose Kachadoorian, a pesticide registration specialist working for the Department of Agriculture in Salem, Oregon, US. The theme of the presentation was the overall risk factor and the necessary precautions to be taken while using various chemicals. Ms. Kachadoorian noted that, in the present situation, there are a number of serious issues concerning the field of pesticide use in Armenia.

One of the existing problems in Armenia is the inadequate labeling of the chemicals on sale. Most of the labels do not give sufficient information on the dangers of this or that chemical both for humans and plants. This leads to open sale of extremely hazardous substances with no proper precaution or safety instructions. Ms. Kachadoorian distributed brochures containing detailed description on the usage and hazards of the most common chemicals used by the farmers.

Among other issues Ms. Kachadoorian singled out the protective gear necessary during working with pesticides. This is yet another neglected field, where even the basic gear such as rubber gloves and goggles are not used and most of the pesticides are applied with bare hands with complete disregard to any safety precautions. The expert detailed on the whole process of applying pesticides especially focusing on the treatment of various chemical-use related injuries and the simple procedures which greatly reduce the risk of contamination. The presentation was followed by questions and answers section. At the end of the seminar, the community members present at the event received certificates of participation.

The Armenia Fund sees the organization of similar seminars as well as preparation and active distribution of vocational training materials as one the ways of improving the current situation and raising the overall awareness of the farmers on this and other subjects.

As a follow up to the seminar the Rural Development Program staff had a meeting with Ms. Kachadoorian to talk about her prospective involvement in preparing viable training materials on pesticides.

The field of pesticide use and the applicable safety precautions is very sparsely regulated by the Government and there is a serious vacuum in information on the topic especially in the border areas. To help solve this issue, we asked Ms. Rose Kachadoorian, who is currently on leave from her job at the Oregon state Department of Agriculture, to provide us with training materials and participate in filming a vocational training footage to be distributed as DVDs and narrated presentations in the rural communities.

This initiative is part of a much wider endeavor of overcoming the awareness gap in the border communities. To ensure the availability of information to the farmers, we will provide each community library with a TV and a DVD player. Then there will be a schedule of training materials to be shown in the community and available to anyone interested in the specific topic. The challenge here is ensuring the long term continuity of the initiative, which means delivering new training materials on regular basis. Parallel to that, we need to bring in experts like Ms. Kachadoorian for additional seminars on all the relevant fields. This project is closely intertwined with The Armenia Fund initiative of upgrading the village libraries as vibrant cultural and information centers.