What should a citizen do now: eat green onions or mixed greens?

In recent years, when everything has become more expensive in Armenia and Armenia has long been one of the leaders in the cost of living not only in the region but also in the world, it is appropriate to remember the speeches of the opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan years ago and the sarcastic statements addressed to the authorities of that time regarding price increases.

“Dear people, the price of butter has increased, eat mixed greens. Lamb meat has become more expensive, eat green onions, it’s very useful, no joke,” Nikol Pashinyan mocked the authorities from the podium of the National Assembly.

Now the price of butter has increased, as well as mixed greens, onions, and meat, and not only lamb, but also beef, and many other products, but Nikol Pashinyan no longer mocks the authorities, he does not say: people, the price of butter has increased, eat mixed greens, the price of lamb has increased, eat green onions, it is very useful.

The other day, when the CP members who went on a political walk were meeting in the streets of Yerevan, one of the citizens complained that instead of giving them so many bonuses, they should think a little more about the people, because the people also want to eat a piece of meat. And what will Nikol Pashinyan say? He says: we have increased the pension, from April 1 you can eat a piece of meat. It’s okay that for so many years people have been deprived of the opportunity to eat a piece of meat with their pension. But it’s not like they will be able to eat after April 1. Because before the pensions would increase from April 1, the price of meat has already managed to rise sharply enough in the last few months. With the added 10,000 drams, a pensioner can barely buy 2-2.5 kilograms of meat during the whole month, if we do not consider that the pensioner needs to buy many other things.

Now, the price of ordinary, boned beef reaches 4.1 thousand drams on average. At the end of last year, it fluctuated around 3.6 thousand.

In just 2-3 months, the price has increased by almost 13-14 percent. If the price increase was due to the fact that people have started to earn more and are able to buy more meat, it can still be understood to some extent. But that is not why the price has increased.

It has become more expensive because there is no meat, the number of livestock has decreased, the production and supply of meat has decreased. And this has led to an increase in the price of meat.

In a few months, the price of beef has increased by almost 500 drams. This price increase may not be felt by the members of the CP who receive millions of bonuses, but hundreds and thousands of citizens who manage somehow cannot help but feel it. It is not surprising that after the recent price increase, the consumption of meat has been significantly reduced. It was reduced because many people cannot afford such “luxury” and buy meat for 4.1 thousand drams. What’s more, the price of meat was not less high before that, now it has increased even more.

The increase in the price of beef is a consequence of the government’s policy. In recent years, the number of cattle has been significantly reduced. But it is not the case that the villagers no longer want to keep livestock. They just did it in such a way that the possibilities of keeping were limited, the pastures were reduced. The former pastures were handed over to the enemy, and in many places they became unusable due to being under enemy fire.

Part of the feed base for cattle breeding used to come from Artsakh. After surrendering Artsakh, they were also deprived of it.

Because of all this, the number of cattle has decreased. This is a direct consequence of the policies implemented by today’s rulers of Armenia, which is borne not only by the peasants, but also by all consumers.

It is funny when, in order to hide the government’s failures, the officials of the Ministry of Economy try to justify the increase in the price of meat with seasonality. As if the farmers prefer to stop slaughtering meat in this period, that’s why the price of meat has increased. It seems that they did not behave the same way in previous years and there were not the same seasonal factors. They don’t even say that the number of cattle has been reduced so much that when the fur is a little less, it causes such shocks in the meat market.

Of course, other factors also affected the increase in the price of meat. And it turned out that it caused a shortage of meat in the domestic market, leading to an increase in prices.

This would not have happened if they had thought about developing animal husbandry, increasing the number of livestock and local meat production. For years, they have been implementing a program called “smart cattle ranches” in order to allegedly develop cattle breeding. In almost 7 years, they built only a few dozen cattle sheds. That’s how they want to develop animal husbandry. It is not surprising that animal husbandry, like all agriculture, should be in this state.

As always, they follow events. After the price of beef increased, the minister of economy remembered that there is cattle breeding in Armenia. After the voiced complaints and criticisms, Gevorg Papoyan, who is also the minister of agriculture, hastened to announce that the government will soon implement a long-awaited support program for our citizens engaged in animal husbandry.

Gevorg Papoyan is not in a hurry to publicize what the expected program is about. He is probably waiting for the elections to come closer so that he can pay another bribe to the citizens at the expense of state funds. But it is natural that the price of meat will not decrease, nor will the consumer become more solvent. Even if there is a “long-awaited support program”, its results, at best, will be felt years later. And today, the citizen will have to bear the consequences of the increase in the price of beef, as well as all other goods and services in general.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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