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VILLAGERS DEAL WITH THEIR ISSUES

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When there is a lack of seasonal vegetables in the market, the tomatoes and cucumbers grown in the greenhouses of Echmiazin sell quickly.

However, this year the residents of Echmiadzin are facing hard times. Whereas before citizens of Echmiadzin were having trouble with bad weather, now they are faced with loans. They get loans for seeds, polyethylene fertilizers for the greenhouses, etc.

“Nobody can help the villager. Although agriculture is the field that needs government support, we don’t get much of it,” told “A1+” resident of the Khorunk village of Echmiadzin Hovhannes, 54. He says that villagers pay off the loan by taking loans from others.

“As a result, we don’t get anything. We just sell it from here to there, mainly in the fields and then the retailers take it at a cheap price. We just give it away so that it doesn’t stay,” said Hovhannes.

Villagers try to buy expensive fertilizer to get high turnout and pay 10,000 drams a year for a bag of fertilizer. Villagers complain that they pay a high price for fertilizer, yet the quality is low and low-standard. In addition to this, villagers face problems with irrigation because the water is 1000 drams per hour. “Regular irrigation takes 10 hours. That means 10,000 drams. But then I am forced to save up money and that’s not good for my sales,” says Mrs. Marusyan, 60.

The greenhouse issue is even more difficult. Villagers heat them with anything they can find-wood, energy, etc. Based on villager Hakob’s calculations, he spends 600 drams when this month comes around due to the greenhouse conditions, while he sells his products for 700 drams in the market, including transportation, market rent and more. The next issue facing villagers is diesel fuel. Prices went down only when agriculture stopped. Hakob says a barrel of diesel fuel costs 8,000 drams. The tractor takes up 40 liters of fuel for a hectare and it turns out to cost 16,000 drams.

“That’s just for fuel, not to mention expenses for equipment. We have appealed to the village and province heads, but they can’t do anything. We don’t have to appeal to the higher instances; they all know about it,” complained Hakob adding that the villagers deal with their issues.