YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, NOYAN TAPAN. This year the Armenian government will allocate 479 mln 548 thousand drams from its reserve fund to the ministry of agriculture with the aim of providing assistance to owners of 18,800 pigs that died or were slaughtered because of African plague in Armenia in 2007. This decision was taken at the February 7 sitting of the Armenian government. The head of the ministry's food safety and veterinary inspection Grisha Baghiyan said after the sitting that 1,005 drams (about 3.3 dollars) will be paid per 1 kg of meat. Pig owners will receive these sums in banks. According to G. Baghiyan, there are 152 thousand pigs in the country. G. Baghiyan announced that in connection with recent cases of bird flu in Turkey, the respective preventive measures, including strict control on the Armenian-Turkish border, are being taken in Armenia.

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