Almond Orchard in Armenia: How to Plan and Establish for Long-Term Success

No official almond figures by province were found. The Ministry of Economy names Ararat, Armavir, Aragatsotn and Kotayk among the provinces where intensive orchards, almond among them, are being established, and Armenpress reported in April 2023 that a company in Armavir province had established 360 ha of intensive almond orchard since 2019, with a 100,000 m³ reservoir. A study orchard in Armavir province lies at about 1,025 m in a semi-desert, dry-climate zone.

A 2024 study notes that Armenian almond production rests on local varieties long propagated by seed without grafting, so their traits vary widely; some resist drought and winter frost down to -30 °C or lower, and the study aims to select them for grafting on clonal rootstocks. Armenia's 2019 list of permitted plant varieties names three almond cultivars, Desertni, Krimski and Nikitski 62, while the Armavir study orchard grew Guara, Penta and Lauranne in 2021 and 2022.

Almond blooms early in the Ararat plain: a 1966 study of plants in Yerevan recorded bloom at the end of February in the unusually mild winter of 1962 to 1963, and a 2024 study reports late spring frosts on average from April into May and calls the plain Armenia's most frost-vulnerable area. A 2022 study reports saline-alkali soils on 34,200 ha of the Ararat valley and notes that groundwater 0.5 to 3.0 m deep usually affects irrigated soils; the Armavir study orchard had alkaline soil (pH 8.6) with chlorosis on Penta.

No Armenian irrigation guidance for almond was found. FAO (2023) reports modern, efficient irrigation on only 5% of Armenia's fruit and vegetable area, and Yerevan averages under 10 mm of rain a month from July to September. The authors of the Armavir study write that almond can be grown effectively only with complex fertilization; in their orchard, chlorosis on Penta in alkaline soil was treated with iron foliar feeding.

In the Armavir study orchard in 2021 and 2022, Guara had shot hole and gummosis, Penta had gummosis and chlorosis among other problems, and no disease was found on Lauranne; the authors also recorded peach twig borer and green peach aphid. EPPO lists the almond seed wasp as present in Armenia, first recorded in 1990, and a 2024 list of invasive species records it in Ararat and Kotayk provinces.

No Armenian pruning or orchard-floor guidance for almond was found. OVE Europe sells ID DAVID and Mañez Lozano machines in Armenia for orchard care: the ID DAVID SURFEED spreads solid manure, the ID-XL weeds the tree row with an adjustable sensor, the Mañez Lozano Mega Twister S6 sprays tall, dense canopies, and the ID DAVID ID-REX disc pruner makes lateral and topping cuts.

No Armenian source found describes how almonds are harvested, dried or hulled today, or the labor involved, and no harvest dates were found. FAO (2023) reports a low level of mechanization in Armenian orchards in general, and traditional almond trees are seed-grown and vary widely in their traits. In orchards planted for machines, mechanized harvesting can bring the crop in on time, with less risk of nuts deteriorating while they wait.

In the Ararat valley, August and September are normally hot and very dry: long-term averages for Yerevan, published by Armenia's Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center through the WMO, give 8 mm of rain on 3 days in August and 8 mm on 4 days in September, against 27 mm on 7 days in October. Where hull split comes in those months, shaken almonds can dry on the orchard floor before pickup, with forecast checks; in October, in other areas and in wet spells, prompt pickup or catching frames are safer.

Flory harvesting machinery is available in Armenia through OVE Europe for both systems. On the ground, the VR700 Shaker, V62 Sweeper, CP87 Conditioner and 8772 Harvester work with the 1500 Conveyor Cart and ST14 Shuttle. Off the ground, the Flory COE C7 Shaker and L2 Receiver catch the almonds in a frame around the trunk, the Flory COE B8 Cart and VS25 Shuttle carry them, and the 4840 Field Elevator loads trailers in both systems.

No Armenian source found describes how almonds are hulled, dried, stored or cracked. In this workflow, almonds dried on the orchard floor arrive with dry hulls and are hulled, then dried further only if their moisture is still above target; frame-caught almonds are hulled first and then dried in the shell. Almond Board of California guidance gives about 6% moisture for kernels and 9% for in-hull almonds in storage.

Armenia's almond trade is almost all kernels: shelled almonds made up 98.4 to 100% of import tonnage each year from 2015 to 2025, and the 60 t exported in 2025 were shelled. No source describes who cracks or grades almonds in Armenia. Jessee, whose processing lines OVE Europe supplies, builds hulling, drying, in-shell cleaning and sizing, and shelling systems; its Airlegs nut cleaner was developed for the almond industry.

Almonds sold in the EU must meet Regulation (EU) 2023/915: 8.0 µg/kg of aflatoxin B1 and 10.0 µg/kg in total for the final consumer or as an ingredient, and 12.0 and 15.0 µg/kg for almonds to be sorted first. Shelled almonds are exempt from the EU marketing standard except for the country of origin (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429). In the Eurasian Economic Union, food safety rules are set by technical regulation TR CU 021/2011, in force since 1 July 2013 and amended since.

For general information only. Information may become outdated and does not replace site-specific professional advice. Consult a qualified agronomist and confirm equipment suitability with OVE before acting.