Epress.am News from Armenia
It’s already been two days that the situation is quite tense in several villages in Armenia’s Armavir marz (province), reports local daily Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”).
Residents of several villages whose harvest was destroyed as a result of hail that fell three days ago went to the office of the regional governor (“marzpet”) yesterday to ask the governor, Ashot Ghahramanyan, what the state is prepared to do to assist them in this matter.
According to Ghahramanyan, out of the 94 village communities in the province, only the 22 who don’t have “anti-hail stations” (to protect the crops) were affected. Speaking to the paper, the Armavir marzpet said 100% of the crops were destroyed in some villages and several grape orchards will no longer be able to bear fruit.
“The hail this time essentially differentiated from previous cases. The hail was accompanied by a strong, storm-like wind. Even those communities that, thanks to the anti-hail stations, were saved, had damages caused by the wind. In so many years, I have never seen this level of hail,” said the marzpet.
As for the villagers’ exasperation and discontent, Ghahramanyan considers it natural. According to him, the previous day, when he and RA Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan went to visit the villages affected by the hail, the situation was even more tense.
Residents of the village of Nairi (presumably present-day Hatsik), when finding out that the agriculture minister is in their province and is visiting affected villages, temporarily blocked the Yerevan-Armavir-Gyumri highway in order to get his attention. Karapetyan and Ghahramanyan eventually made their way to Nairi and attempted to calm the villagers, but to no avail, reports Haykakan Jamanak.
One of the Nairi residents, Perj Martirosyan, informed the daily of how the agriculture minister addressed them. “You’ve come, he says, you’re drunk, that’s why you’re speaking so indignantly. Not only do I not drink at all, but also I don’t even smoke! But I’m indignant [because] the hail destroyed my entire harvest and they have no faith. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I have a $8,000 loan — how am I going to pay this tomorrow?”
According to Ghahramanyan, the agriculture minister is preparing to appeal in writing to the head of Armenia’s Central Bank to ask him to freeze the loans of those residents whose crops have been affected by the hail and give them the opportunity to pay back the loan the following year, reports Haykakan Jamanak.