In the “Pressing” program Satik Seyranyan the guest is former deputy minister of agriculture of RA, agronomist Ashot Harutyunyan.

The main theses of the interview are below.

• God forbid that Armenia enters into a war with Russia. Russia has not fully entered the field of contradictions, it is still using “soft power”, otherwise the consequences will be more severe. The driving force of the economy, from bread to flowers, is agriculture. Agriculture also solves the problems of food safety and security.

• There are various institutes in Russia that analyze what chemicals and fertilizers enter Armenia, what kind of inspection control there is, what kind of policy is followed. Today, any untested chemical enters Armenia. There is no control. If the Russians used to turn a blind eye to phytosanitary problems, they don’t now. When they want to stop the truck at the border, they have reasons, they can easily make a camel and close it.:

• In addition to affordable prices, the Russian market is also the most profitable for us in terms of logistics. It did not take much skill to deliver our goods from Armenia to Russia.

• It would not be bad if we could use the European market in the right way as well. But it’s not easy. It is a problem of market, logistics and competition. not beneficial. No European farmer sleeps and wakes up at night to welcome and sell Armenian producer’s products on their market. They also have their own problems. No one is crazy enough to take bad value, bad goods to Germany or a European country. Otherwise, the Armenian product, at least because of its taste, wherever you take it, there are people who eat, wait and miss it, but we are talking about thousands of tons.

• From the point of view of food safety, we have serious problems in the country. There are many publications that some of the drugs used in agriculture are of substandard quality. What is the permissible limit, what amount of fertilizer is given to the plants of the Ararat Valley, for example, no one monitors or controls… Today, the prices of agrochemicals are so high that very few farmers are able to use them. There is no advisor or supervisor, but since the price is high, farmers at least buy less and use it. In this sense, there is no evil without good:

• Armenian fresh fruits and vegetables are bought in counted containers and reach America. Product turnover is not large. The volume of goods turnover is absolutely not comparable with Russia.

• Even taking into account the analysis of the numerical indicators of the state subsidized costs, we see that the export of Armenian agricultural products to the European market is not attractive and profitable.

• The powerful agriculture of a country like Ukraine has become a 2-3000 km battlefront with its fertile lands, and Europe is constantly feeding this war. At the very least, we should be blind or less intelligent than to wonder what the European Union has found in this small Armenia, that it promises so much money, for what purpose it does it…

• 2018 they did not decide to make the revolution that day. There are countries that have planned them for 20-30 years…

• The Church is one of the pillars of our statehood. Various pillars were taken out of order, the church is resisting. There are many groups in Armenia, belonging to other religious movements, sectarian organizations, aimed not only at concentrating groups of people in order to act at the moment of need, but also to divide the Armenian Apostolic Church itself, because it is the Armenian Church that has united the Armenian nation around itself for thousands of years and brought it to this day.:

• After 2018, the closure of both the Ministries of Agriculture, Energy and other departments was again a plan years in the making. I’ve been inside, I’ve seen how they plan from below… Millions of dollars were coming supposedly for consulting, they made plans, they made a condition to invite experts from their countries or here and pay, withdrawing the money given… it did not benefit our agriculture. As a result, that money was circulated and sent back to their countries. Of course, there were some programs that helped the industry grow.

• Secretary of the Security Council (SC) Armen Grigoryan used to say: we don’t need wheat, we will eat rice. Now the government has set itself the task of regrouping and increasing the wheat sown areas. Now I think where they want to throw us, what problem they want to solve now. Don’t cheat again:

• I have my own trench and I try to keep it until the end. My political position is pro-statism, to remove this government as soon as possible so that this country remains. My forte is agriculture.

• When wheat came from Turkey in the 1990s, it was not Turkish wheat, it was coming from Syria as aid. And from Turkey in 1996-98. in the meantime, they brought Turkish potato planting material, which was sown in Aragatsotn marz, and until now we are not able to clean the contamination of those lands, the disease does not pass through the soil…

• Today, 99% of Russian-made wheat comes to Armenia from Azerbaijan in wagons. Comes in very small quantities. 

The country has been put on a needle, we are hanging by a thread… Killing is killing by hitting and killing alone, isn’t it? It is a war of wheat and bread. God willing, the Laris tunnel will be handed over on time, and the Armenian-Russian logistics problems will be settled… Armenian-Russian relations cannot remain in this state for long, it will be disastrous:

• I would also like to say that Armenian-Turkish relations have a perspective, or who does not want peace… but there is history of centuries, there are facts, and since pan-Turkism is their state program, this cannot happen.

• One of our most powerful forces is the Diaspora, we must unite, otherwise we cannot resist alone for long. Our enemies also know that the Armenian living in Armenia is not alone. Our main diplomacy should be cohesion:

• The countdown has started in our villages. In the villages, people are in a state of knockdown…people are lying on the ground, the question is whether they will rise or not. Every hour, export problems complicate the situation. By autumn, the harvest is increasing, that’s when the peak will be. I don’t know if exports will recover in the meantime or not.

Back in the day, I wondered how enthusiastically the villagers used the programs supported by the state. Being a professional myself, I was never tempted. The banks have made a profit, but what benefit will the greenhouse owners and the peasants get, we will see. I used to say: people, what are you going to do with so many flowers? Are we going to eat flowers? For how many years I told the government to subsidize the crops we need, they didn’t do it, but did you see how your flower exploded?:

• The other day, I found out that 700 tons of pepper were exported to some country, and the kilogram was subsidized at a good price. I am sure that none of the pepper-producing peasants and farmers of Armavir marz did not lose their pepper. Go see whose pepper they exported. And this is the big businessman, who once did not risk entering the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia, now he writes a plan for himself, brings it, approves it… They put their clutches like cancer on all organs… As the system develops, they send a cell to destroy it too.…

Deputy Economy Minister Arman Khojoyan said that 770 drams are offered for each 1 kg of strawberries, 275 drams for each 1 kg of tomatoes, 400 drams for 1 kg of pepper, and 37 drams for each flower.

• Folks, the truth is bitter… Don’t put the knife to the bone. There is a danger of tanning in the republic.

• Authorities, don’t hide the reality. Last year, you showed zero contamination of tannery, when there was a fall of hundreds of sheep and pigs. Don’t try to say otherwise. What happened, did the pigs get a heart attack or die from your policy? Livestock population in the country is in sharp decline. Unless you deal with disease, infection, wherever you want to bring high breed animals, you will get the opposite effect. Moreover, some diseases, such as anthrax, tansy, are encapsulated and remain in the soil for a hundred years, it should be dealt with as soon as possible… This is a biological weapon. Don’t start in the wrong place. Clean out the barns. Collect your brains. We are not losing a country anymore, but they have reached the intersections of our houses:

• What the wind brings, the wind will take away, and their eyes will be satisfied with a handful of soil, in the end…

• According to my information, not only the gas coming through the pipeline, but also that pipeline and all the rest of the property is owned by Gazprom, the Russian side. Let’s say you signed a contract to bring gas from Azerbaijan. I’m not saying you’ll get addicted when the hump closes the valve, say, in the bitter cold of January-February. Let’s face it, honestly, what will you do if the Russian side refuses to provide its internal network? Or how will we charge the nuclear power plant?:

• Why are we talking about Russian sanctions, when today in Armenia there is a government that has forced 20,000 people to be idle? I am talking about the employees of “Multi Group” owned by Gagik Tsarukyan. This government has a problem with people, it hits the workers… First, think about the sanctions applied by these authorities against the citizens of Armenia, not Russia’s sanctions…

• If Roza Tsarukyan was his mother, her son would be twice as rich, with her blood, energy and quick mind. 

• Not only are these doing it on purpose, but they are super ignorant…

Details in the video.

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