In the aftermath of the 2018 Armenian revolution, pressing systemic challenges exist on different levels, causing serious disadvantages especially for the low-income, rural population engaged in farming activities in the regions outside Yerevan. In this situation, different types of policies and partnerships – a new governance framework for transition – is needed to put an end to amateurish politics and financial inefficiencies.

A common framework for sustainable transition should be developed to bring varying policies into coherence, set common goals over different sectors related to food security and sustainable agriculture and rule out hidden costs such as those caused by the individual preferences of policymakers. In this frame, by shifting the focus from agriculture to food, and acknowledging the right to food, a wider range of actors representing the policy arena, research and education system and practitioners engaged in farming activities can be meaningfully involved in designing and assessing policies.

To be able to develop a common transition framework and implement sustainable institutional changes, some clear values, political ideologies and human-centric visions of Armenia’s future development are needed. The 2018 Armenian revolution marked a victory in the people’s fight against the quasi-neoliberal economic hegemony and politics implemented by quasi-conservative politicians in the interest of a capitalist oligarchy and hidden criminal mechanisms. This political culture has largely affected the perception of agriculture (as a business) and caused a democratic deficit in food systems, for instance through monopolies on food export and import markets. The Armenian people’s democratic movement in 2018 was a clear sign that a new political agenda and functioning institutions (including laws and bodies) are needed to realize the concepts and values of freedom, security and justice enshrined in the Armenian Constitution. The anticipated changes in the overall system would, among other things, result in more social equity in the farming sector, democratic food systems and sustainable ecosystems.



Absence of Ideology, Contradictory Policies

Today's politicians responsible for the democratic and sustainable transition of food systems and the development of the agricultural sector largely avoid claiming to represent any political position (ideology) regarding their strategies and structural reform processes. As a result, each actor and authority is trying to design and implement policies and strategies in accordance with the knowledge, ideas and “dreams” of the leading figures in their respective sectors. However, regardless of the attempts to escape from conservatism, liberalism, socialism and any other "-ism," political players are now implementing a mixture of contradictory policies based on ideologies varying from traditional social democracy and liberal capitalism to post-neoliberalism and modernism. This “non-ideological” mix of policies is strongly reflected in the country’s economic sphere and especially in the agricultural sector, causing serious challenges to meeting society's present food needs without compromising the position of future generations.

On October 29, 2019, the new state budget for the development of agriculture in 2020 was presented and discussed in Armenia’s parliament. The main message running through the subsequent discussion was that the responsible policymakers have to both urgently rethink their political views and positions and redefine their own role in the entire food system. In 2020, 19.2 billion AMD (over 40 million USD) will be spent implementing seven fragmented projects that target ambiguous and unclear repetitive results in the agricultural sector. For example, the proposed smart farm project, which is excessively costly to the public budget, has shown little demand among livestock producers; less than 10 percent of those involved in training activities are interested in implementing the idea of a smart farm, even with state subsidies and support. In addition, there is no ultimate goal, ideological basis or unifying thread running through the intended pilot projects and initiatives. In fact, one can get the impression that political representatives in this sector perceive their role as agents of foreign businesses or development agencies acting in Armenia without any state development agenda and vision for long term sustainable development.

Although some pressing challenges - such as the need for immediate institutional changes and the alarmingly low education level of those engaged in agriculture - were highlighted and discussed during the budget presentation, no concrete actions will be taken to address these challenges holistically during the upcoming year. Instead, people involved in farming activities were blamed for being illiterate and indolent. Although state authorities will continue to spend billions of AMD from the public purse for implementing these projects, the desired development in this sector cannot be realized, even over the next decade. It is obvious that the responsible policymakers, with their industrialization and business strategies, top-down approaches and quasi-neoliberal orientation, fail to implement inclusive and sustainable reform strategies and policies in the agricultural sector.

At a forum called “What to Do: Economic Revolution - Perception and Execution” on October 9, 2019, Prime Minister Pashinyan argued that the principle of Adam Smith's invisible hand is not always the best scenario for economic development and that importance should be placed on the right political decisions and vision of policymakers regarding the country's economic development perspectives. While talking about industrial (technological) economic development, Pashinyan announced that, if the pre-set political direction fails to demonstrate deliberate modifications and development, then policymakers need to have the courage to change their positions, concepts and strategies. This approach is a clear message that a paradigm shift is needed away from the rather top-down approaches of the past to a more participatory and inclusive approach, in which people involved in the agricultural sector (especially in farming activities) are empowered and integrated into the democratic transition process.

Applying a Multi-Stakeholder Systemic Approach

Although policymakers are crucially important due to their agenda-shaping power, there is currently a particular need to integrate practitioners, as well as scientists and researchers, into the development process of a new governance framework for transition. Therefore, a multi-stakeholder systemic approach has to be applied that will provide policymakers with a holistic perspective on knowledge and innovation processes in the agricultural sector by considering all interests and actors involved. A new human-centered and problem-focused perspective has to be developed that takes the real needs of farming communities and other practitioners as a starting point for any development and innovation processes. Moreover, sustainable agriculture should be the only goal of this new approach to guarantee people’s right to food and meet society’s current food needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Thus, even if politicians avoid positioning themselves under any kind of "-ism," the basic principles valid throughout the whole food system should be social and economic equity, a healthy environment and viable economic development. These three dimensions of sustainability (3D-Sustainability) are embedded in one another, with the environment setting the overall context and the economy being only an integral part of the society (see Figure 1).