This is the opinion of Ashot Aslanyan, a farmer from Meghri. He also adds that he is talking about those pesticides, which are effective and are not of an unknown origin. He says that it is more than three decades that he is engaged in fruit growing, and notes that year over year the effect of pesticides necessary for use is decreasing, and often even after one or two usages the result is not satisfactory. 

In general, Ashot purchases all the necessary pesticides for the garden in Yerevan.

“I buy them from a specialized store for pesticides and drugs. However, even here double standards are applied towards the clients. If they see that you are keen in this field, you know many of the pesticides, at least how they look like, they serve you differently. But I have heard many people complain about the little effectiveness of the pesticides; especially the insect-killer pesticides rarely serve the purpose. According to Ashot’s information, its roughly the 2-5% of the 1300 rural households of Meghri that has the possibility to buy pesticides from specialized stores, the other part buys them from the hands of the merchants coming from Yerevan, who make good money in autumn and spring, when the biggest quantity of pesticides is sold. “It’s not that profitable as it might seem, because everyone buys 100-200 grams of pesticides, while the majority - borrows them. I lend them, and then run after them several months to return my one-two thousand drams,” says one of the merchants, who sells the pesticide (detsis) in simple medical syringes. “I suck out little by little from the bottle in those quantities that they want,” explains the plant- doctor and adds that he also gives some advice as to how to make the injections. 

Gevorg Margaryan consultant at the Syunik Agricultural Support Centre CSJS under the RA Agriculture Ministry thinks that, it may indeed often happen that the quality and safety of the sold pesticides do not comply with the approved standards and give floor for serious doubts. 

This is why; if before the farmers bought pesticides from merchants, now they prefer buying them from specialized stores through their friends or relatives or at least from those people, whom they trust, since the pesticide sellers often confuse the farmers. “It happens so that, for example, instead of selling pesticides for fighting against false flour dew of grapes, they sell pesticides for fighting flour dew, which not only  does not achieve its result, but may have the adverse effect,” says Gevorg Margaryan. 

In contrast to Meghri, which is twice farer from Yerevan, in Goris and Sisian pesticides (chemical and biological compounds, used for fighting against pest and diseases in plants, pests in agricultural products and for boosting the growth of plants), are in general sold in the same place - in separate booths, at industrial and product stores, and most frequently - at home, and even at drug stores. Naturally, the pesticides are sold in violation of the requirements of the November 3, 2005 RA Government’s decision “On Establishing the Specifities for Selling Pesticides and Fertilizers”. According to this decision, a list with the names of biological and chemical pesticides protecting plants and permitted in the territory of Armenia, must be posted at all stores that sell these substances and this list should be visible for the customers. Besides, pesticides should be sold only in packages and by weight, they should have tags,  which should indicate their name, the name of the producer, the specialized company and the seller, the price, the density of the active substance, the risk level, the production and expiration dates, as well as indications on first aid in case of poisoning. Unfortunately, when these rules are not followed, no one bears the responsibility of the illegitimate use of pesticides and other fertilizers. Meanwhile, the use of pesticides of bad quality and unknown origin harms not only the biodiversity but also the farms. “The use of bad quality and not guaranteed pesticides in wrong portions, purchased from accidental persons, may harm hectares of arable lands,” says PhD in agricultural sciences Leno Bakunts. He mentions that the use of “Simazin” pesticide purchased from accidental persons years ago destroyed 300 hectares of grain fields in the Tegh village of Goris, undermining the possibility of having high-yield crops for the next year.

Pesticides stores in Syunik

A similar case was observed in the Syunik region, where pesticides were used in the greenhouse and contaminated the plants. Later, the contaminated seedlings were transferred to the land and the disease had spread over all the plants in the field. Besides, some pesticides, such as the chemical pesticide for protecting potato from the Colorado bug, should be annually replaced by another pesticide. However, the farmers in general make use of the same pesticide, since they do not have the means of purchasing new ones. 

Sometimes the farmers make use of such pesticides, which are out of usage, like a pesticide called granoza that is applied for the disinfection of the grain seedlings. And event though currently it is not included in the list with the names of biological and chemical pesticides protecting plants and permitted in the territory of Armenia, accidental people continue selling the pesticide in big quantities, especially in rural communities.

Naturally, in this case Point 6 of Part 1 of Article 9 of RA Law “On Quarantine of Flora and Protection of Plants” is not respected. According to this provision, legal and physical entities engaged in agriculture in the RA should take measures for protecting the soil from ill-effects of the chemical and biological pesticides, and their harmful residues. 

In addition to endangering the biodiversity, the human life is also affected. “In the last years an increase in skin diseases is being observed, which is also caused by the more frequent and improper use of pesticides in agriculture,” says dermatologist and venerologist Levon Harutiunyan. He thinks that there is a common thinking especially among the rural people that the use of pesticides is enough for having the desired result. While being only concerned for getting the maximum out of the soil, in order to improve their social condition, villagers make excessive use of pesticides. Moreover, since they purchase pesticides form unspecialized stores, where no indications on their usage is provided, contacting them without gloves often brings to their absorption into the organism through food. This may cause not only skin diseases, but also infertility and tumor. The fact that the Cancer Center of Syunik is among the first ones in terms of the patients’ number, is perhaps also related to this. There have been registered cases of death caused by the improper use of pesticides, too. 

The best part of the abovementioned issues would certainly not exist, if Syunik region with its 18026 agriculture lands had at least one specialized store, where the farmers could purchase the necessary pesticides. For example, in Syunik region, the demand for one pesticide - Raxil seed disinfectant - for  only 12.851hectares of winter grains  makes 1 tons 542 kilograms.

Samvel Davtyan, Head of “Farm of Goris” CJSC says that he spends 300-320 AMD for buying pesticides necessary for the cultivation at his household. And if he buys the pesticides from specialized stores of Yerevan, in the case of other people engaged in grain growing, there are no guarantees that they will have these means. Hence, they pay more to the re-sellers, however having no guarantees on the pesticides’ origin. 

Under the Markets for Meghri Project, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and administered by Shen NGO and HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation company, in April of this year an exposition of agriculture products was opened in Meghri. The exposition aimed to present to the agricultural households the fertilizers, seed compounds and pesticides of local and foreign production. The Project Coordinator Artur Hayrapetyan tells that during a single day more than 150 residents of Meghri had the chance to buy high-quality pesticides from the representatives of “Art Agro”, “Sis 95”, “Hrashk Aygi” and other companies. Hayk Ivanyan, manager of “Hrashk Aygi” LLC specialized in the sales of pesticides, believes that the exposition not only supports the farmers in order them to buy the necessary pesticides by affordable prices but also increase the demand of their products. According to Sargis Tsakanyan, representative of “Sis 95” LLC, such initiatives are also useful for the farmers, who get consultation, leaflets on the terms of use of the pesticides that they buy at the exposition. 

However, the issue is not only in ensuring the quality and safety of the pesticides and other compounds. The RA Law “On Licensing” states that the sales and/or production of chemical and biological pesticides for the protection of plants should be organized by the businessmen upon a special license delivered by the RA Ministry of Agriculture. 

Arman Hambardzumyan, Acting Chief of Licensing Department of RA Ministry of Agriculture informs that as of June 8, 2012 93 licenses were issued for 93 businessmen, none of which is from Syunik. “The license for the sales of chemical and biological pesticides for plants protection is issued for an indefinite term and in 30 days upon the submission of the required documents,” Mr. Hambardzumyan mentions. He also adds that for obtaining a license at least a vocational education in the field of agriculture is required, while in case of legal entities - the presence of at least one employee having the proper qualification. 

In the words of Arman Hambardzumyan, since 2007 there have been no applications for a license from Syunik region, and he has no information whether someone from Syunik has ever received one. In this case, it is at least strange that before the publication of this article, on different occasions “Makich and Macho” LLC operating in Sisian sub-region, was persistently referring to its license for pesticides sales The LLC was also emphasizing that it had only one store in Sisian and opening branches in other parts of the region was “not profitable and beneficial”, as the company’s director Sevada Ivanyan noted. Now that as a result of legal proceedings “Makich and Macho” LLC is declared bankrupt, it announces that it does not have a license, meanwhile, according to the Acting Chief of the Licensing Department , no legal or physical entity specialized in pesticide sales were registered in Syunik region. 

Artur Nikoyan, Head of Phytosanitary Inspection of the State Service for Food Safety of the Ministry of Agriculture, believes that the procedure for issuing a license for pesticide sales is complicated. For getting a license there should be production and/or sales areas, which should comply with the sanitary rules and norms approved by the Health Care Minister. According to these rules, in addition to ensuring the requirement of a 50m security zone separating the place of sales and the residential areas, as well as guaranteeing the provision of having a 35m surface for the place of sales, the license holder should have 1 hectares of territory for organizing sales, which in the opinion of Artur Nikoyan is not realistic.

However, Artur Nikoyan highlights the importance of the requirement about the seller’s qualification. He also doesn’t exclude that illegal places of sales may be operating in different regions nowadays. For example, in the same Syunik region the merchants do not satisfy the demands of the farmers. Sales of fake and expired pesticides are also possible, which not only harms the agricultural households but also can be extremely dangerous for human health. 

As Artur Nikoyan reports, in 2011 736 tones and 882 kilos of pesticides was imported to the Republic of Armenia. Meanwhile, 600 scheduled expertises for pesticide sales-control are being annually carried out on plants. The expertise aims at defining the constitution of the active substances in the sold pesticides, identifying quarantine and other harmful organisms.

As regards the unlicensed trade of pesticides, Arayik Ghazaryan, Chief Inspector of Syunik Department of RA Service of Food Safety, informs that their institution administers supervisory duties - controls the trade of pesticides that are not included in the list with the names of biological and chemical pesticides protecting plants and permitted in the territory of Armenia and the implementation of the license requirements, as well as does sampling. 

The most awkward thing here is that if no legal or physical entity has a license in Syunik region for the trade of biological and other pesticides, what is the sampling done on, how the composition of the pesticide, class and quality and expiration date is identified. 

One must probably suppose that the above-mentioned institution, even though still in its formation process, should only deal with prohibiting the trade of pesticides. This is a function that is not duly implemented. The reason for this is not the fact that the inspection of companies with more than a 70 million turnover is prohibited by the RA Government’s decision, but there simple logic laying behind this – as the chief inspector notes - they don’t want to be bad person and deprive the people of the possibility of earning some money. Besides, they are convinced that otherwise hundreds of rural households will face a challenge and will not be able to take necessary actions towards soil cultivation, usage of pesticides, fertilizers and fight against tare, seed dispersal effectiveness, seedlings production and sales, as well as quality ensuring in compliance with agriculture rules. 

And again, if there are no permitted sales spots in the region, on what samples does the inspectoral toxicological laboratory make expert conclusions? Does this mean that they reduce the sum of 150 million AMD yearly allocated by the state for the plants protection in proportion to the sum allocated to Syunik region? 

A residential house near a kindergarten. Pesticides against potato diseases are sold at the entry

Edgar Tokhsants, Head of Syunik's Veterinary and Sanitary Laboratory Service State Non-Trade Organization, notes that their institutions makes regular checkups, identifies the quantity of toxics in different pesticides. “This is a newly-established body. We carry out regular inspections and have identified different causes of intoxication, but we haven’t disclosed any toxins yet. The most recent laboratory study revealed that the intoxication of chickens was caused by arsenic. In the past, when I was the head of the state veterinary and food safety inspection (some structural changes were made to it), we made inspections and often encountered food stores that sold pesticides. One of the most bizarre cases was registered in Harzhis village.” 

The rainfalls, humid weather of the current year are harming the gardening and vegetable cultivation, diseases and pests have raised their heads.  For their prevention the rural households have to take additional efforts. They should use pesticides, which, like before, may have an adverse effect not because the farmers lack information on their terms of use, but also because they have no guarantees that they won’t contain illegimately purchased substances, the quality and composition of which has not been checked, which are, however, being sold in the market by high prices. 

Putting aside the fact that sometimes the land owners do not use the necessary pesticides at the right time, and often use ineffective compounds, it is also important how well these persons are informed about the possible ill-effects of pesticides sold without a license, and whether there are enough information channels for holding the regional land users informed about this. In this regard, the consultants of the Syunik Agricultural Support Centre are carrying out duties, but do not have any supervisory authority to prohibit the farmers from using the unauthorized pesticides. 

In his annual 2011 assessment of RA Ministry of Agriculture, RA Human Rights Defender Karen Andreasyan appraised the fact that as result of legislative initiative the value added tax on the import of agricultural products, including on pesticides and their trade in the internal market, was relieved. “This could make the purchase of these products more affordable for the farmers.” 

Isn’t there any need to define some privileges for abating the requirements for the trade, and sales of pesticides through such legislative initiatives? This would naturally encourage the businessmen to obtain a license in accordance to the order and legislative requirements, which in its turn would satisfy the demand of 18 thousand residents of the region. 

There is also another issue. If the region still does not have any licensed companies, which in terms defined by law, would also be responsible for minimizing the ill-effect of the unsold pesticides, then where are the unused pesticides being consumed now? Are the community heads concerned about prohibiting the sales of fake pesticides on their territories? Are they concerned about the destruction of the unused extra quantity of pesticides being sold in their communities that is provided by law, and are they aware that the gas generated from pesticides negatively affects the health of the community residents? 

In other countries 3-5 dollars is being spent to neutralize the danger from pesticides. Do our community heads envision any spending for this purpose, when drafting the community budget? If no, this means that we – without committing any crime - receive the same toxin that they inject to people sentenced to death penalty in some country.

 

This investigation is done with support from the Danish Association for Investigative Journalism/Scoop.