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Aghavni Eghiazaryan

Low Quality Seeds Cause Losses

101 farmers in the Bambakashat and Janfida villages of the Armavir province harvested a smaller-than-expected tomato crop this year, bearing an average loss of 52 million drams. The villagers insist that this was due to poor quality seeds, though the salesmen they bought the seeds from deny this, saying that none of the farmers applied the correct agricultural techniques.

"We live on this crop and cover our costs through the harvest. Why should we harm ourselves by incorrectly cultivating it and causing a poor yield? I have always sold tomatoes, but this year I was forced to buy them from the market and store them in jars for the winter," complained Vachik Samsonyan from Janfida.

"The tomato plant didn't grow, and there were only two or three soft, weak tomatoes on it. I should have had a harvest of around twelve tons of tomatoes from 2,000 square meters of land, but it barely yielded two tons, which didn't even cover my expenses," said Khachik Poghosyan of Bambakashat.

Villagers in Bambakashat and Janfida bought Sira and Pacmor tomato seeds for the 2005 season from United Genetics, an American company well known in the Armenian market. They had used seeds from this company in previous years and had had good harvests, averaging 100 tons of tomatoes per hectare. In order to obtain seeds from United Genetics, the farmers had approached the agricultural associations functioning in their villages. "The agricultural associations of both villages then approached the Federation of Agricultural Associations (FAA) to arrange the purchase. FAA contacted the Yerevan representative of United Genetics, Arman Stepanyan, who refused to sell the seeds with a certificate of guarantee. We informed the villagers that our association could not be involved in this purchase, because associations like ours cannot work without certificates. The farmers decided to buy the seeds through other means," said FAA President Vardan Hambardzumyan.

The farmers were able to buy United Genetics seeds from various shops or through fellow villagers who had been dealing in this business for a few years. The villagers from Bambakashat bought the tomato seeds from Arman Stepanyan, whose seed shop is located behind the Ayrarat Movie Theater. "The association members collected the money, and two of us went and bought seeds for everyone. We bought 2.7 kg of seed from Arman," said Mnatsakan Nikoghosyan of Bambakashat. The Janfida farmers bought the seeds through intermediary salesmen - Arthur Vardanyan of Echmiatsin and Felix Ghazaryan of the city of Armavir. These middlemen had also originally bought the United Genetics tomato seeds from Arman Stepanyan.

Arman Stepanyan has been working with United Genetics for more than seven years, importing their seeds. He has been the United Genetics representative in Armenia since 2000, and founded United Genetics Armenia ltd. "I only sell seeds wholesale. I turned down FAA because they wanted 1-2 kg, and that's not a large enough order for me. I don't know any villagers, no villagers have bought seeds from me individually. Maybe some of them got together and asked for a large amount, in which case I would have sold it to them. It's possible, I don't remember everyone I've sold seeds to, or how much," said Arman Stepanyan.

He also said that he can often be found at the seed shop behind the Ayrarat Movie Theater, but that he had no direct connection to it; it belonged to one Arthur Shishmanyan, a member of the United Genetics Italian workforce.

"United Genetics has no shops in Yerevan. That's just Shishmanyan's place, salesman sells seeds on his own there. I assure you that seeds bought from him cannot be of poor quality, because he buys our company's seeds from me, and I trust him completely. I assure you again - our company's seeds bought at that shop cannot be of poor quality," added Arman Stepanyan.

Some of the residents of Bambakashat bought United Genetics seeds from local resident Hrachya Harutyunyan, who has been selling seeds as an intermediary for many years. Farmers from the village of Hoktember also bought seeds from him, and they all suffered losses. "Why am I to blame? They asked for seeds, and I provided them. How am I supposed to know what's in the packages? I planted some of it too, and yes, there was a mixed variety in the packet, but they were tomatoes, right? It's just that it wasn't the variety that the villagers wanted, and they didn't cultivate it right, which is why they had a low yield. The villagers have been getting a good harvest from these seeds for five years, what can I do if the packets contain different seeds this year?" said Hrachya Harutyunyan, vexed by the villagers' accusations. He said that he sold a maximum of 5 kg of United Genetics tomato seeds this year, which he had bought from Arman Stepanyan. That 5 kg of seeds, sold by only one person, caused losses to tens of villagers, because it covered roughly 50 hectares of land. "The villagers of Hoktember bought United Genetics tomato seeds from Hrachya Harutyunyan as well as someone else in Echmiatsin, and more than 70 people from our village suffered huge losses," said Lyova Karapetyan, the Hoktember deputy village head. The farmers of Hoktember appealed to Minister of Agriculture Davit Lokyan as well, but received no support or compensation.

Arman Stepanyan did not deny selling seeds to Hrachya Harutyunyan of Bambakashat, but added, "How am I supposed to know what seeds that man sold to the villagers? Maybe he sold some other company's seeds, not ours. I also have reason to believe that certain people want to ruin United Genetics' reputation through this whole spectacle, but they will not succeed."

Although the farmers bought the seeds without a certificate of guarantee and without FAA mediation, the FAA is ready to defend the interests of the villagers. "We will defend the villagers every step of the way, and we will go the distance. It doesn't matter whether Arman Stepanyan is guilty or whether the blame lies with the intermediary salesmen or the United Genetics head office. What matters is that the villagers have suffered, and the guilty party must be found. Of course, this also served as a good lesson to the villagers that they must abide by regulations," said Vardan Hambardzumyan .

On the initiative of the villagers' associations, experts R. Shahazizyan, deputy director of the Scientific Center for Vegetables and Crops, and S. Hayrapetyan, a leading scientist, were invited to the tomato fields. They studied both the plants obtained through this year's tomato seeds and the fields used for tomato farming last year. The experts found that the fields corresponded to the agricultural requirements for tomato farming, but the plants grown from seeds used this year were short and grew poorly, producing small, soft fruits with surfaces that crack easily and are mediocre in appearance. In their opinion, this was clearly a hybrid. Plants grown from seeds kept from last year were healthy, the fruits corresponded fully with the properties of the variety in question and no hybrid varieties were seen within these plants. They noted that "the condition of tomato fields sown with seeds bought in 2005 was not the result of improper agricultural technique."

The evidence brought forward by the farmers and the conclusion reached by the experts prove that United Genetics seeds sold in 2004 and 2005, supposedly of the same variety, were markedly different. The United Genetics Yerevan representative insisted that such a thing is impossible. "I did not import tomato seeds in 2005. I imported around 200 kg of seed in 2004 and sold from the same batch in 2005. How is it possible that there were no complaints in 2004, but suddenly the farmers get a poor harvest from the same seeds in 2005? I have sent seed samples taken from the villagers' leftovers as well as from my stock to the head office, where they have been planted and are being cultivated. The result will be out in a few months. It is impossible that our seeds are of a low quality," insisted Stepanyan.

The farmers had a different reaction to the alleged sampling and testing of their seeds. They said that they had no leftover seeds, because these seeds were expensive and each farmer had barely bought all that they required, so all of them had been used. The villagers suspect that Stepanyan may have taken back all the seeds left with the middlemen in order to destroy any remaining evidence.

Although Stepanyan insisted that none of his seeds could have been of low quality, he nevertheless proposed giving the villagers 3 kg of seeds next year free of charge. "I would like to emphasize that this is not compensation, it is a donation from United Genetics to support the Armenian villagers," he said. The farmers have rejected Stepanyan's "support".

"We will go to court, there is no other way. 60 members of our association have suffered huge losses, we have to go all the way because the only hope left for these villagers is compensation," said Manvel Amirjanyan, President of the Janfida Villagers' Association.

The farmers had taken loans from various organizations and banks at the beginning of the year to pay for seeds, fertilizer and equipment, and to make land and water payments. Some people even rented fields. The harvest was supposed to allow them to pay those loans back and live till the next season.

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