Forty-two percent (42%) of the Armenian population lives below the poverty line
($1.00/day) and thirty percent (30%) live below the food line (ROA National Census,
2005). Before World War I, goat breeding in Armenia comprised 7-8% of all animal breeding.
From an estimated population high of 273,000 head, the population decreased from 222,000
head in 1941 to 14,000 by 1992 (Scarfe, 1999). Despite previously high populations, native
breeds in Armenia, which have adapted to harsh mountainous environments, produce low
volumes of milk and low quality fleece. Focusing specifically upon the development of the
Armenian dairy goat industry, this case study illustrates three central and dynamic lessons
learned from the historical United States Marketing Assistance Project (USDA-MAP) 1996-
2005: (1) With solid, upfront market research, an entire industry can be created by rebuilding
once existing livestock populations; (2) Every link in the marketing chain, from farm gate to fork,
must be developed and completed to shift from domestic to international marketing; (3) Essential
to meeting the specific needs of committed local partners, the ability to provide state of the art
expertise as requested in the field is essential.. This analysis documents these three lessonslearned
with global implications for rural development work.