ICARE - International Center for Agribusiness Research and Education

ICARE sponsored and participated at the AEA first Annual Meeting

October 2011

ICARE sponsored coffee breaks during the Armenian Economic Association (AEA) Annual Meeting held in the Yerevan State University on October 22-24 and, more importantly, contributed to the Meeting with expertise of and reports by ICARE Director Vardan Urutyan, Head of MAB Department Armen Asatryan and Instructor/researcher Tatevik Zohrabyan. Dr.Urutyan reported at the Industrial Organization session on “Farmers Markets in Armenia: Lessons Learnt”. The other topic that Dr. Urutyan presented at the Agricultural Economics/Agribusiness session covered RISE model of farm level sustainability assessment.

The presentation highlightedthe main findings of the joint research project “Sustainability of Agricultural Production in Armenia – analysis of the current situation and improvements through farm advice and facilitation of policy action to adapt framework conditions using the RISE (Response Inducing Sustainability Evaluation)” of the ATC/ICARE and Swiss College of Agriculture. The model is well accepted and successfully being used in 17 countries including Armenia.

Dr. Zohrabyan presented “Socioeconomic Impact of Illegal Logging on Rural Population of Armenia” revealing interesting outcomes of the ICARE comprehensive surveys conducted this year, with the volume of illegal logging exceeding multiple times the publicized official data. Dr. Asatryan presented a totally new and nearly untouched topic in the country: “Marketing Board: Will It Work in Armenia” as well as his pros and cons resulting from the recent ICARE research pursuant to the Government’s request.

The AEA Meeting was the first attempt to bring together domestic and Diaspora Armenian economists to address the country’s economic problems. The RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan highlighted the necessity of such a platform and the use Armenia’s and Diaspora’s research potential to resolve a number of challenges in economy that require professional approaches.

Social enterprises as agents of welfare and development in transition contexts

March 2011

The first seminar on Cooperatives and Social Enterprises in the scope of the RECOSET Project (Research on Cooperative and Social Enterprises in Transition Contexts) workshops and seminars was conducted with beneficiary and partner organizations in Yerevan in March 2011. ICARE was the local organizer of the seminar. Researchers, consultants and other academic and non-academic experts interested in cooperatives and social enterprises participated in the seminar.

The main goal of the first seminar was advancing participants’ understanding of the main rationale and potential of cooperative and social enterprises in transition contexts. Best practices from EU countries as well as practical examples across sectors were provided to advance participants’ understanding of both the competitive advantages and limits of social and cooperative enterprises.

Past conferences:

Joint International Research Seminar on the Role of Cooperatives, September 5-6, 2008, Yerevan>>