By Lia Avagyan
Weaknesses in Armenia’s pesticide controls could become another obstacle for Armenian fruit and vegetables trying to reach European markets, according to a position paper by the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia published this month.
The paper, titled Sustainable Agriculture and Workers’ Protection: Effective Management and Safe Use of Pesticides in Agriculture, says pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables are the biggest problem for exporting farm produce to the European Union, according to the experts interviewed. It describes a system that checks pesticides at the border but has little control over how they are stored, used and disposed of.
The findings come as Armenia tries to shift its produce exports away from Russia. Since late May, Moscow has gradually banned imports of Armenian fruit, vegetables and other goods, citing phytosanitary violations. In September, the European Parliament approved a two-year suspension of tariffs on a broad range of Armenian goods. Duty-free quotas will apply to apricots, grapes, cherries, peaches, cucumbers and other produce.
The paper was authored by Emil Gevorgyan of the YUSTUS research and consulting foundation and published by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation ahead of COP17, the UN biodiversity conference in Yerevan. It draws on interviews with 10 experts and focus groups with workers.
The Ministry of Economy is aligning Armenian law with EU standards under the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the 2017 accord that sets the framework for Armenia’s political and trade ties with the EU. According to ministry representatives, this includes removing active substances banned in the EU from Armenia’s pesticide register.
But the authors note that the 2025 progress report on CEPA implementation does not specifically address pesticide-related barriers to exports. They warn that weak oversight and enforcement, limited laboratory capacity, fragmented institutional control and low awareness among farmers and agricultural workers could seriously hinder Armenian exports to the EU.
Gaps in oversight
Armenia's Food Safety Inspection Body is the main agency overseeing pesticide imports, registration and use. Its representative told the researchers that businesses generally comply with import requirements. The hardest part, the official said, is controlling how pesticides are used and stored.
Small farmers often buy pesticides in small bottles labeled only with the product name, a representative of the NGO Armenian Women for Health and a Healthy Environment said. The bottles carry no information on how to apply the product or when it expires. The report also says some unregistered pesticides have been smuggled into the country, and their active ingredients are unknown.
Also read: Gaps in pesticide oversight raise questions about safety of Armenian produce
Disposal is another weak point. When expired pesticides are found, they are recorded and handed back to the shop for safekeeping, the inspection body's representative said. Because of a legal gap in waste management, what happens next remains uncontrolled. A business association representative described the Nubarashen burial site, where large amounts of banned and expired pesticides are buried, as one of Armenia's most dangerous environmental problems.
Monitoring residues is also difficult. More than 1,880 pesticide products are imported into Armenia, according to the NGO. Yet laboratories lack equipment, funding and specialists. No single database tracks pesticide imports, sales, use, residues and health effects. Figures from the Statistical Committee and the Food Safety Inspection Body sometimes do not match. The government's 2026–2031 program envisages a digital system to monitor the quality and sales of imported pesticides and fertilizers.
The NGO also pointed to chlorpyrifos, which parties to the Stockholm Convention listed as a persistent organic pollutant in 2025. Armenia ratified the convention in 2003, but chlorpyrifos is still not banned in the country.
Farmers also have few places to turn for advice. Regional agricultural support centers that once advised farmers were dissolved rather than improved, the inspection body's representative said. As CivilNet reported earlier, many farmers rely on pesticide sellers for guidance.
Officials disagree on how serious the problem is. Ministry of Economy representatives described the legal framework as solid. The Health and Labor Inspection Body called it only partly sufficient, while several business and civil society representatives said it was inadequate.
Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Armenia has committed to cutting pesticide risks by at least half by 2030. The report says concrete national targets to meet that goal are not yet sufficiently defined.
The confederation says it will use the government-employer-union tripartite commission to push for mandatory occupational health registries. It is also calling for closer alignment with international hazard standards and state support for safer alternatives to chemical pesticides.
Stories
