The situation with Armenia’s agriculture can be considered very bad, with villagers constantly voicing complaints and the population in rural areas becoming sparser, the chief of a farmer’s NGO has told reporters.

“The minister of agriculture says every day that the things are all right, but the situation is just the other way about,” Sargis Sedrakyan, the president of the Farmer’s Movment, said at a news conference on Wednesday. “The villages are becoming empty day by day, making a villager impoverished and contributing to a desertification and regress.”

Sedrakyan said a state-based approach is necessary to resist possible challenges in the future.

“The world is going to face serious challenges requiring a state based-approach which includes, first of all, economy of food products. But everything here is left without attention,” he added.