Winery Pays Part of Armenian Farmers’ Debt, Promises to Cover Rest by Month-End

Grape farmers of Armenia's Kaghtsrashen village and several other nearby communities were given on June 3 AMD 60 million  (about $ 125,523) of the total of about 200 million drams they are owed by local Vinar winery for grapes that were purchased from them last autumn, with a  promise to pay the rest by the end of the month.

“The majority of the debt has yet to be paid, but the management of the winery has promised at a meeting with the governor to bring some more money at the end of the week and to cover the entire debt before the end of June,” farmer Zakar Petrosyan said in conversation with Epress.am Tuesday.

He added, however, that vinegrowers have learned not to trust Vinar's promises; “They've been saying the same thing for six months now, so we try not to be very hopeful and wait for the end of the week.”

Note, after an unusually rich harvest in the fall of 2015, the farmers of Kaghtsrashen had to sell the grapes to the local Vinar winery for as little as 40 drams per kilogram. The company, however, failed to  pay the grape growers money in time, causing them to hold a number of protests in front of the Armenian government building and the presidential residence in Yerevan.