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Weakening Dram Hurting Armenia’s Small-Scale Farmers; Especially Those with Bank Loans to Pay

By Emma Petrosyan

Small scale farmers in Armenia’s northern Lori Province are feeling the pinch of the recent weakening of the national currency the Dram.

Avetik Avetyan, a resident of  the village of Tzater, says that living in a rural setting and not being able to work the land is equivalent to being unemployed.

Mr. Avetyan says that current conditions prohibit any development of local agriculture and points to the lack of irrigation water as a prime hindrance, but adds that there are others.

“The lack of irrigation water is the major problem in this village. If it is resolved, we can work the land. But we all know that water isn’t the only issue. There’s the fuel issue and the fact that purchasing fertilizer is beyond the means of many. Credit rates have suffocating the people throughout the country, especially in our village,” says farmer Avetisyan, adding that all in the village have taken out loans.

The weakening of the Dram vis-à-vis the US Dollar has just made matters worse.

Avetik Avetyan

“The more the dollar rises, the more average folks who have to pay off their loans suffer. It’s a no-brainer,” says Mr. Avetyan.

Market prices of consumer goods have also been rising. Resellers are the ones pricing goods and not the original owners.

“The market doesn’t belong to the villager. We take our goods there, are offered a price, and then the stuff is resold. That’s the market for you,” says village resident Albert Poghosyan.

Souren Avetyan, who raises livestock, hasn’t been able to sell all his animals at the market because he hasn’t been offered desirable prices.

“I have 32 head of livestock. But meat prices are too cheap so I holding on to the animals,” says the twenty year-old Souren.

Samvel Virabyan, the village deputy mayor, notes that even with government subsidies for fertilizer and diesel fuel, market prices for agricultural produce are so low that farmers can’t make a profit.

“There is no profit involved. Agriculture around here is continuing due to bank loans. Most residents took out dollar loans and now have to pay 450 Drams to bank as opposed to 400. The currency fluctuations are hurting us farmers. All the while, market prices for our goods have stayed the same,” says Mr. Virabyan.

 

 

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