ASPIRED Project, USAID’s “Partnerships for Rural Prosperity” (PRP) Program of the Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Development National Center of Armenia (SME DNC), Fund for Armenian Relief and Sayat-Nova community signed a cooperation agreement on joint implementation of the irrigation project in Sayat-Nova Village. The Project serves a dual objective of supporting the agricultural development in the communities of Ararat Valley, while promoting a more rational use of the groundwater resources by private fisheries. The new irrigation network will be based on the use of the outlet water of Masis-Dzuk fishery. Piloted first in Hayanist village of Ararat marz, Sayat-Nova is the second village where ASPIRED is going to replicate a project on reuse of the discharge water. In both projects, both water and feed stock for the fish has been carefully examined for their safety and found to be suitable for agriculture based on the standards of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Nearly 30 communities of Ararat Valley experience shortage of both drinking and irrigation water. Use of the outlet water of the fish-farms for agriculture can help many communities to solve the problem of irrigation water and improve the economic well-being of their residents