Money, knowledge and helpful contacts - this is the support five horticulturalists from the Westerveld region are giving their Armenian colleagues. Westerveld is in Drenthe, a province of the Netherlands. This initiative ensures that the growers in Armenia can work cheaper and more effectively and innovatively.
Zaruhi Mikayelyan is in the Netherlands for about six weeks. This Armenian farmer is in the country to learn from fellow farmers. Zaruhi has been at Harrie Boerhof's company in Dwingeloo for a few weeks now. She has been helping with, among other things, conifer tree cuttings.
"Here, it is an inexpensive plant," says Boerhof. "But in Armenia, there is still good money to be made with them. There is also a good market to be conquered with pot plants."
It is crucial for Zaruhi to see what she must do to be able to supply a large market quickly. She has already planted 8,000 tree cutting at her farm in Armenia. "But, of course, we are also going to cultivate vegetables," she says. "I think poor families, in particular, will benefit from this."