Epress.am News from Armenia
Farmers in a number of villages near the town of Etchmiadzin continue to struggle with lack of irrigation water. Nearly 300 hectares of agricultural plots have been left without water as employees of the local water utility insist “it’s not irrigation season yet.”
“The irrigation season is open; we’ve already sown the seeds. The winds of recent days, meanwhile, caused all the sprouted seeds to dry up. We ask [the water services] to give us water, but they say they won’t give any because the irrigation season does not open until April 1. That’s nonsense. Electricity cables are cut off, [the irrigation system] does not get any power [to be able to supply water],” Artimet village resident Gagik Mirzakhanyan said in an interview with Epress.am.
According to the farmer, employees of the Vagharshapat water utility have even gone so far as to blame the villagers for their own misfortune, saying: “Who told you to sow the seeds ahead of time?” and “Did you ask us before sowing?”
“The villagers can afford not to ask permission from unknowledgeable people to start farming. The start of sowing depends largely on the weather conditions,” Mirzakhanyan argued.
The desperate farmers have been dependant on the supply of water coming from melting snow to be able to water parts of their plots. The Vagharshapat water utility, the farmers claim, charges them 13 000 drams for water per 1 hectare of land.