Epress.am News from Armenia
Recent statements by Armenia's Ministry of Agriculture to "save" the fruit trees and vegetable crops from the frost through fumigation, for the villagers who almost lost their entire harvest, sound more like mockery than concern, resident of the rural community of Mrgashat in Armavir marz (province) Yerem Arakelyan told Epress.am. He is perplexed that the ministry believes "hungry villagers" would have the opportunity or means to keep a fire burning constantly for 2–3 days.
"The poor villager did not have firewood to burn, barely managed, survived the winter, and now they say light fires [to melt the snow]. Firewood for an entire winter wouldn’t be enough to withstand this frost. In the evening [of March 29], from 10 o'clock, it was already -5ºC — for nearly 3 days. Now imagine, how was this poor people supposed to burn fires in the open air?" he said.
According to Arakelyan, the amount of damage caused by the heavy snowfall and severe frost in not only Mrgashat, but also several other communities in the province are indescribable: no option of fighting frost worked.
"The only hope is that the not yet ripened grape berries can yield harvest; otherwise, the other buds were torn and fell. All the stone fruits are completely and utterly damaged: apricot, plum, and peach trees. These types of fully blossomed trees cannot survive a temperature -5ºC," said the villager.
Arakelyan was unable to make forecasts on the pome fruit trees, considering it too early to speak about them. Everything will be clear when the pear, apple, and quince trees blossom. "Villagers have not yet recovered: tomorrow and the day after, the sun will come and the buds will dry (now the colors are still in place), then it will be clear what comes after what," he said.
In conversation with the Epress.am correspondent, resident of the Ohanavan community in Aragatsotn marz Lena Petrosyan said that if the heavy snow and strong wind on March 29 damaged nearly 50% of the total harvest, then last night the orchards and fields were completely frozen.
"We lit fires in 5 places in our orchard; there was nothing left to burn, but it could not be saved. It's enough for the fire to go out for 5 minutes — the frost takes it away. The apricot, plum, peach, cherry, and prune [trees] are completely destroyed. I brought the branches inside; they are wilting, blackening from the heat, which proves that we won’t have a harvest. We are all in a wounded, confounded state — it’s not like, say, it’s just mine, and I can take from the neighbor and resell it. It’s an ubiquitous situation. If only this frost came 20 days ago; we wouldn’t be in this deplorable situation. The entire village is burdened with loans and debts — at least if the [country’s] leadership does something, gives us hope," she concluded.