We have made a decision regarding unused lands. Nikol Pashinyan

We have already made an internal decision regarding unused lands, concerning their leasing and other mechanisms, and we are already taking steps to implement these clear ideas, said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the government’s regular session.

“Today we face a challenge as there are numerous agricultural lands in the republic that are not being purposefully used, and a significant portion of these landowners do not even live in Armenia to talk to them, ask them, and convince them to lease these lands to those who are ready to cultivate them. Currently, we are thinking of implementing a mechanism where we will establish a state rental price for land based on regions and land categories, and have legislative regulation so that when a piece of land is not used for an extended period, and in cases where the owner is in Armenia or not, we can legally take that land for lease, pay the owner a rental fee, and the state will lease it to the operator who is willing to use it. In this way, we turn unused land into cultivated land, while paying the owner a certain rental fee,” the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of ongoing dialogue with the public on this issue. “I believe that these processes should be carried out with 100 percent transparency, where after closed discussions we transition from zero conditional awareness to 100 percent awareness, and through these discussions, we involve the public, as the initial reaction tends to be sharp,” Nikol Pashinyan added.

He noted that this is linked to the interests of tens of thousands of people and a compromise must be found, but they also need to understand that they will need to seek difficult solutions.