Smbat Hakobyan, who’s been growing wheat in the Shirak village of Anoushavan for the past twenty years, says there’s a much better alternative to enriching imported flour with folic acid and iron.

Hakobyan wants the government to do more, much more, to assist domestic wheat farmers.

“Immature wheat not appropriate for food intake is being imported from Russia. It’s mostly used for animal grain,” says Hakobyan. “To make it acceptable for human consumption it has to mature under the sun. What’s being imported is green forage wheat; the refuse of the regular harvest.”

Such wheat is deficient in various micro-elements. This is the reason why the Armenian government has given the green light for a bill that would launch a flour enrichment project in the country. (The program also has the backing of the UNICEF office in Armenia)

Hakobyan argues that the simple solution would be to prohibit such wheat imports.

Based on his experience, wheat fields fertilized with barnyard manure give great results. Hakobyan proudly shows me kernels of a red wheat strain he grows called “Yasaoul”, noting that it is used to make great tasting bread and pastries.

“Nothing has to be added to my wheat. I grow my wheat on 100 hectares in Aragatzotn and Lori Provinces. I select the sunniest parcels of lands. If you go to these fields you’ll see they are fertilized with manure. In return, the crop is ecologically clean but I cannot sell it,” the farmer complains.

Hakobyan says that he never had a problem selling the crop for the past 15 years or so. The buyers were small farming enterprises, while large electric mills purchased the bulk.

“For a long time I dealt with Mancho Group. Last year they called and said that they received a directive to only buy from certain individuals and that the company could no longer buy my wheat,” Hakobyan tells me.

The farmer says he has 130 tons and doesn’t know where to sell it. “There are four electric mills operating in the country but none will buy from me. They say they received instructions not to buy,” Hakobyan claims.

Hakobyan has cultivated four strains of wheat that have acclimatized to the high elevations of the land (1,700-2,000 meters above sea level) and produce a bumper crop. He imported the original seed from the Stavropol Krai (Administrative Region) in the north Caucasus.

“We get great flour from our local wheat,” says Hakobyan. “Even the much praised Karona Russian flour can’t match it.”

The farmer says he’s amazed that the government appears intent to continue to neglect the needs of local farmers despite their assurances to assist them.

“All that money to enrich flour with folic acid should be used to assist our farmers to sell their crop. At least people will believe that they are consuming safe food products,” argues Hakobyan