Community and regional initiatives

An initiative aimed at organizing the livestock movement of Syunik region

In the Republic of Armenia, the seasonal movement of livestock from summer pastures to winter pastures is often organized in a hectic, unsystematic way, which causes problems with sustainable pasture management, accurate livestock registration, and effective organization of livestock epidemiological measures, as well as the control of livestock movement.

The platform provided an opportunity for the Public administrations in the regions and local self-government bodies at the national level to raise the issue of regulating the livestock movement to the pastures, by launching the first initiative aiming to regulate the organization of the livestock movement in Armenia.

On 30th of April, 2019, during the 4th workshop of the The Program Coordination Platform for Sustainable Management of RA’s Natural Fodder Areas: Pastures and Grasslands, the communities of Syunik Region raised the issue of regulating the livestock movement of Tegh, Goris and Tatev communities of Syunik Region to the summer pastures of Gorayk community which also reduces the animal production and threatens the safety of people and animals.

Responding to the raised issue, the Operating Group of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia was established in October 2019, by the initiative of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia. The first meeting of the interdepartmental Operating Group took place on November 26, 2019. In addition to the representatives of the Ministry, the group includes representatives of the RA Ministry of Environment, the RA Ministry of Economy, the RA Food Safety Inspection Body, the RA Syunik Regional Administration and Strategic Development Agency NGO.

The Operating Group decided to divide the work to stages:

Phase 1: to make a clear roadmap for the livestock movement in the direction of the corresponding roads, including the locations of possible infrastructure (watering points, habitat, housing, road, etc.), and the corresponding estimates.

Phase 2: Identification of supposed checkpoints, mapping and assumed estimates (shelter for herdsman, disinfection mats, fenced area).

Phase 3: Supervision of the veterinary services (veterinary service and control methodology).

Stage 4: Alternative route of grazing movement if possible (for epidemics).

The works envisaged by the first stage are already implemented while the works of the second stage are under discussion. Details on the progress of the works are presented below.

  • The roadmap of the animal grazing movement has been outlined by the communities of Syunik Region, including the places of possible supposed infrastructures (watering points, habitat, shelter, road, etc.) preliminary estimates has been made.

An inter-community cooperation agreement was signed between Tegh, Goris, Tatev, Sisian and Gorayk communities to resolve the issue. On September 8, 2021, an event was held in Yerevan within the framework of the “Livestock Development in the South of Armenia” project funded by the “Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation” (SDC), implemented by the Strategic Development Agency (SDA) NGO. The purpose of the meeting was to present the road map design of the route for livestock movement to the distant pastures from Tegh, Goris, Tegh communities to Gorayk community of Syunik Marz. The event was concluded with signings of project packages by the communities, which were handed over to the Syunik municipality and the target communities.

  • A company was involved in drafting the design of the livestock movement route and infrastructure.
  • The works envisaged in the first stage are carried out with the support of the “Livestock Development in the South of Armenia” project.

The “Strategic Development Agency” NGO (SDA) is continuously working towards keeping the initiative in the center of the state agencies’ attention. Now the Syunik Regional Administration is coordinating the works aimed at the organization of the project. In order to complete this initiative Syunik Regional Administration represents the necessity and importance of this project.

Updated as of 14.11.2022