Failure of cattle-breeding 3: Stubbornness doesn’t bring any good
In its previous issues 168-Zham has adverted to the Development Plan of Cattle-breeding 2007-2015, in the framework of which the cattle shipped from Europe has become a nightmare for farmers. We have presented the opinions of major farmers on the matter, who had participated in the project and lost many of the expensive animals.
Our meetings with major and average farmers didn’t change the murky opinion formed in relations to cattle breeding. A farmer of Syunik Atom Arakelyan, who purchased 33 cows in 2010, told us that 13 of those had died. He told us that three days after the shipping 2 cows died in two days, then another two and so on. The farmer notified the ministry of agriculture. A commission was formed to familiarize with the situation. The farmers were advised to send the results of medical tests to state laboratories located in Goris and Yerevan. “They have diagnosed a blood infection, which had never existed in Syunik or Brnakot. But this disease existed in Georgia and perhaps the animals were infected there but the animal couldn’t possibly get infected and have died within 10 days. So within a year 13 cows died and we didn’t receive a penny for reimbursement. And today we have to pay the debt by the court decisions,” said Arakelyan. The farmer requested that the ministry prolongs the deadline of payments but was denied, “We don’t have anything else to sell to give to them.”
Arakelyan has already paid 11 million AMD for the dead cows and soon has to pay another 10 million. Next year he will have to pay 20 million plus a few fines for violating the due dates. “Prior to this, I had a decent business running. Now I will have to destroy everything. I should sell all to pay off my debts,” mentioned Arakelyan and added that the people will suffer even more if they agree to buy shipped animals. He believes that the domestic cows will give equal amount of milk if they are fed enough.
A farmer of Kotayk Artyom Khachatryan last year bought 30 cows but got rid of them in the same year. “After the birth of the first cow I have sold it all and don’t even know how many of them will survive. Their care is very difficult. If we take care of them based on European standards then the prices will go up as well. This is a nightmare for the villagers,” said Khachatryan. In his opinion it would be more efficient if calves were imported instead of cows, which would get adjusted to the Armenian climatic conditions better. The project would cost less and be more profitable. A farmer of Alapars village, Kotayk marz Davit Gharibyan also told that he is having a hard time with his situation as well. 3 out of 33 animals that he had purchased in April died lately. “I can’t say that the situation is ideal by I can’t complain much either.
The dead animal didn’t have a problem. It just wasn’t fed with good fodder. They lost weight and died,” said Gharibyan. Moreover, the ministry of agriculture wasn’t able to find out why the animals died. Despite this gloomy situation the ministry doesn’t wish to accept the failure of the project and intends to continue it. The head of cattle-breeding department of the ministry Ashot Hovhannisyan sent us a 9-page explanation, in which he blames the farmers for feeding the animals with bad fodder and accuses them of reporting the slaughtered animals as cases of infection. “Indeed, cattle-breeding contains certain risks and there is no such thing in the world that the animals wouldn’t die in farms. The risks are even higher when the animals are imported. The process is still efficient even if 1/3 of the animals survive.
Nonetheless, we tried to ship only those animals, which are stronger and more compatible to the Armenian climate,” mentioned Hovhannisyan. He also claims that the average annual inflow of tribal selected cows didn’t exceed 10% despite the opposite claims of the farmers. Let us also remember that the ministry requested that Arzni company shows a lower number of death cases of animals. Indeed, if the ministry operates in the same manner as the National Statistics Service then the numbers can be adjusted too. There is a noteworthy moment in the clarifications of Hovhannisyan. We have also publicized the complaints of the Armenian farmers who think that the ministry prefers to import cows from Europe thus ignoring the growth and breeding of local cattle, which are more adaptable and stronger.
According to Hovhannisyan, the reason why cows are not bought from local farmers is that the latter ask such a high price for their animals that it becomes more profitable to ship them from Europe. But in this case as well, the opinions of officials and farmers differ because the farmers claim that they sell their animals at the gross price – 850 thousand USD per head. It is hard to understand why the farmers and the ministry failed to find a common agreement on the matter. At any rate, the farmers told that the Europeans farmers offer little refund for the export of their animals. A member of the NA Standing Committee on Agriculture and Nature Protection Armen Avetisyan told 168-Zham that he was also surprised why the famers and the officials cannot find a common language. “The farmers are saying give us as much as you gave in Europe – 800-900 thousand drams. They can purchase the cattle here as much as the demand is. The rest can be attained from Europe. It is not clear why they don’t support the local producers.”
“I wouldn’t call this a successful project. They could have implemented a more cost-efficient project. It is not a very good idea to ship these animals here and kill them. Our farmers have appeared in a very tough situation.”
By Gayane Khachatryan
