Epress.am News from Armenia
Several dozen farmers from Vardenis held a protest outside the Armenian government building today, demanding a meeting with RA Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan.
Speaking to Epress.am, they said that, a 2011 government decision led the Ministry of Agriculture to import substandard seeds, which do not yield crops, resulting in the property and assets of 150 farmers to be frozen because of their accumulated debts.
"The wheat didn't sprout; we've repeatedly proven that the the seed agency deceived us. They were supposed to import the 970 tons of autumn sowing, high-quality seeds from Seeds of Stavropol, but, breaching the decision, instead they imported it from [the Russian] United Grain Company — the Control Chamber recorded the violations in 2012. They distributed the seeds for us to return them later, but that year there was a drought, they didn’t grow. The next year we planted the same [seeds] again, the weather was favorable, but it turned out the seeds were substandard," one of the farmers, Vardan Hayrapetyan, informed Epress.am.
Protesting farmer Gagik Yeghiazaryan said that the Ministry of Agriculture is not promising any solutions to the issue, keeping them waiting for years, but today they came to get an answer from the government.
"What I have [my property] is frozen; I took on expenses, I burned the field so that I can plant, but I don't have seeds. I can't take out a loan, at least to buy seeds. The field awaits, empty," said Yeghiazaryan.
After today's cabinet meeting, the farmers met with head of the government's Department for Reception of Citizens and Discussion of Petitions Aleksandr Ghazaryan, who informed them that discussions on the matter are being held.