Lusineh Toplaghaltsyan

In 2005, with the assistance of the Amkor organization, a showcase farm was constructed in the village of Norabak, Gegharkunik Marz. 

Starting in 2004 representatives of the Amkor organization held a series of meetings with community residents and noted that the farm under construction was to serve the residents of Norabak and those of four other communities in Gegharkunik Marz.

They also underlined that residents of Norabak would be employed at the farm and that the crop would be allocated to needy families and to the school, in order to fulfill its nutritional program. Amkor representatives declared that the farm would be operated by financial assistance given by their organization for one year and that the farm would have to fend for itself afterwards.

After the completion of the farm in 2005 Amkor allocated 500 chickens, 25 breeding pigs, a number of sheep and a tractor with all the accessories to the farm. The farm engaged in the production of cheese and milk reprocessing. In 2005-2006 Amkor allocated 6 tons of grain to twenty households through the farm auspices and also the fertilizers needed for the planting. The objective was the organization of grain reproduction. The families included in the program were to deliver grain seed to be distributed to twenty new households the following year. The organization and implementation of the potatoes and alfalfa plantings were to follow along the same lines. The final goal of all this was the development of Norabak’s economy. Of note is that village resident Armen Karapetyan, the Director of the farm and son of the former Norabak Mayor, was sent to Holland on a working visit to obtain practical experience. Trees were also planted around the borders of the farm by the residents with Amkor assistance, thus lending a beautifying touch to the site.

In essence, the farm had operated for about one year with seven Norabak residents from different families employed there. Everything had proceeded in an acceptable fashion as envisaged by Amkor. That is until the farm started to operate independently. Employees started to be laid off, work tailed off and the farm then shut down. Its doors have remained closed till today. The farm is not officially registered in the Norabak community accounts. There is no documentation in the community registrar regarding the allocation of land for the farm. Employees at the Norabak Municipality Office stated that the land is question had been registered at the Vardenis Branch of the Real Estate Cadastre as a semi-completed construction while, in actuality, it is fully constructed. Furthermore, it has the most pleasing exterior of all buildings in the community. Amazingly, the value of this site is registered as zero on the books of the Vardenis Branch of the Cadastre. More amazing are the details as to the owner on the Cadastre document - Karapetyan Yepraksya Harutyuni, who is the wife of the former Norabak Mayor.

It would take a very great leap of imagination to understand why a farm constructed as a result of a $20,000 bid won by Amkor is registered in the Cadastre books as having no real value at all. The staff secretary confirms that news of the competitive bid was publicized in the pages of the press. Even if the farm was surveyed as a semi-completed construction, why didn’t the survey team see that it was really a completed structure? If it was in fact just half-finished would Amkor go ahead and allocate farm animals or go ahead with plans for cheese-making or milk reprocessing; of course not.

After stating all this it is no wonder that there are no animals on the farm, no tractor with all the attachments and no Director, retrained with all the prerequisite skills, to serve the interests of the local residents. At the same time, one can’t help but wonder if Amkor didn’t monitor operations after the completion of its program and how it was that Amkor handed over the farm to an individual at a property value of zero. No one in Norabak, not the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor or the Mayor’s Secretary, knows the circumstances of the farm’s transfer; whether it was sold outright or leased. Even if the farm was dissolved, for a variety of reasons, why weren’t village residents apprised of this fact and all subsequent procedures in due course.

In any event, the bottom line is that the farm originally constructed with the aim of improving the social conditions of Norabak residents and spurring the development of the community is not operating today. However the undeniable fact is that during the one year that it did operate, the farm proved that it could play a real and decisive role in the development of Norabak.

Tragically, it will take Herculean efforts to get the farm back on it feet once again.