Epress.am News from Armenia
Farmers from a number of villages of Armenia's Armavir province faced a rather unpleasant surprise recently as they were told at the Amasia procurement facility of the Yerevan Ararat Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory, owned by former leader of Prosperous Armenia Party, businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, that the factory would procure only as much grapes from the suppliers as they did last year, a villager, who wished to remain anonymous, told Epress.am Friday, October 2. Meanwhile, the farmer added, Tsarukyan visited the province last week and promised the entire grape harvest would be procured.
According to the interviewee, he, like many other farmers, is currently thinking what to do with the remaining produce: “Last year I sold 2 tonnes of grapes; this year I have 7 since I've a new vineyard. In spring, Gagik Tsarukyan [having bought the entire harvest] provided an opportunity to expand, and like many others, I obtained new vines and fertilizers on a condition that I’d pay after selling the fall harvest. So now I have an AMD 250 000 debt to pay off in addition to having to spend 70 thousand drams on harvesting and transportation. If I sell only 2 tonnes [of grapes], I won't have a penny left,” the farmer stated.
The queue in front of the procurement facility, he said, stretches for more than 500 meters, and the farmers' trucks are lined up on both sides of the road: “Some young men wander around the trucks and ask money from the farmers to move them ahead in the queue. A farmer from Getahovit village had to pay AMD 30,000 to sell his 4 tonnes of grapes as soon as possible since the procurement facility said the quality of the grapes had dropped [because of remaining in front of the facility for three days], and that he had to cut the price.”