ArmInfo. Today, Armenia—a country with a thousand-year history of agriculture, one of the world's centers of grain production—cannot provide itself with wheat. Political scientist Tigran Dumikyan stated this on his YouTube channel.
He noted that the next figure being discussed today is 132. Dumikyan explained that this is the exact number of thousands of tons of wheat produced in Armenia last year, with another 332,000 tons imported to meet the population's needs. "That is, for every ton of wheat grown by Armenian farmers, more than 2 tons of wheat are imported. Imagine three loaves of bread on the table. It turns out that only one loaf is baked from flour produced in Armenia, while two are imported. This is an analysis of official statistics. "It turns out that today Armenia—a country with a thousand-year history of agriculture, one of the world's centers of grain production—cannot provide itself with wheat," the expert noted.
Moreover, as the political scientist noted, Armenia receives 99% of its imported wheat from one country: Russia. "This wheat is delivered to Armenia through neighboring countries, and in recent months, including through Azerbaijan, with whom the country still has no diplomatic relations. That is, the presence of bread on our table now depends on a single link—supply and transit. Meanwhile, when discussing food security, we must be realistic and ask ourselves: if this link ceases to function, will the country be able to independently provide bread for its citizens?" "The numbers and current relations with other countries don't speak in Armenia's favor, and this creates serious problems for the country's food security," the expert believes.
In this regard, he recalled how Artsakh once supplied the country with approximately 100,000 tons of wheat. "Today, we don't even have that safety net. Now the question is whether the country can produce more wheat. In Armenia, 50.2% of arable agricultural land remains uncultivated. The reasons are varied—there's no water, the land is fragmented, owners don't cultivate the land, farmers don't have equipment or money. But where is the state in this case? After all, the main responsibility for solving all of these problems is the government. Another problem is that in Armenia, the average wheat yield per hectare is 1.5 to 2 tons, while in developed countries, the average wheat yield has long been in the range of 5-9 tons, and the global average has reached 3-3.5 tons. This problem concerns not only the current government but also previous ones. After all, we're talking about wheat, which is of strategic importance," Dumikyan emphasized.
In turn, MP Harutyun Mnatsakanyan from the Strong Armenia bloc noted on his Facebook page that this year's grain harvests in both Ukraine and Russia were quite bountiful. Because, as the MP explained, both countries faced problems exporting through their seaports, and prices fell to an unprecedented low—approximately 5 rubles (about 21.21 drams – ed.). "In Armenia, due to the decline in prices in Russia, the price of feed wheat has already dropped to approximately 79 drams per kilogram." "But despite this, our consumers still haven't benefited at all—bread prices haven't decreased anywhere," the opposition figure noted.
It's worth noting that, according to data from the Armenian Customs Service, Armenia imported 332,300 tons of wheat and meslin in 2025, up 5.6% from the previous year. Of this, 99.6% of the wheat and meslin came from Russia, 0.3% from Kazakhstan, and the remainder from the Czech Republic and Austria. The customs value of imported wheat increased by 37.2% to $82.9 million during the reporting year. Wheat exports increased by 96% to 75.3 tons, with a significant increase in customs value to $253,500. All wheat exports went to Russia.
