EFSE success stories. Alla Davtyan and Mikael Hovhannisyan: a small family with big achievements

EFSE success stories. Alla Davtyan and Mikael Hovhannisyan: a small family with big achievements

The couple breeds cattle, pigs, hens and ducks, and at the first sight taking care of the whole livestock farm seems quite impossible.

Alla Davtyan, her husband Mikael Hovhannisyan and their little daughter moved to Masis village located near the town of Artashat in Ararat province of Armenia several years ago. They settled in a small construction next to an abandoned farm, the owner of which let them live and work there, and purchased a cow, marking the beginning of a new life.

PanARMENIAN.Net - “This cow is symbolic for our small family, as everything started with it,” Hovhannisyan says, smiling.

Currently, the household consists of several constructions, each used for a specific purpose. The couple breeds cattle, pigs, hens and ducks, and at first sight taking care of the whole livestock farm seems quite impossible.

“We are so busy during the day, that sometimes we don’t even notice how the night comes,” Davtyan agrees. “We usually do everything without outside help and don’t have any permanent employees but sometimes call a man to help us for some fee,” she adds.

With the latest $2300 loan from ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, the couple bought some bull-calves to enlarge the livestock.

“We have been cooperating with ACBA for many years and the terms they offered to us were the best, so we continue,” Davtyan says.

The farm has many compartments, with each animal name written on a sticker. One of the stickers says Laz (a bus brand of a Ukraine-based plant) - the name was given to the pig for its overly long size.

In a construction nearby, the family grows sprout barley to feed the cattle. “This 'dish' makes the milk extremely tasty,” Hovhannisyan says.

ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, one of the Armenian partner lending institutions (PLI) of the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), is the leader in terms of loans provided in rural areas of the country.

On average, the share of loans dedicated to the agricultural sector in the EFSE target region hardly exceeds 5%, according to the last year’s data. Whilst only 10% of the EFSE investment portfolio can be attributed to credit lines is channeled to agricultural/rural borrowers as well. This is even more significant as the EFSE, one of the largest funding sources for agricultural and rural business activities in the target markets, gives PLIs full flexibility in using MSE credit line funds across economic sectors.

The project is sponsored by theEuropean Fund for Southeast Europe

Lusine Mkrtumova / PanARMENIAN.Net
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