The market is being leveled for Turkish agricultural products

The peasant suffers from the face of the government. He worked, suffered, sweated, grew crops in the hope that he would be able to realize and take care of his worries, but due to the fault of the government, he faced a hopeless situation.

Domestic market consumption volumes are small, and the possibility of export, in the main sales market, has been closed because the authorities have decided that they can make a fool of themselves by taking advantage of the benefits of one economic union, but going to another economic union.

With every passing day, the peasant suffers losses, and the government tries to feed people with fairy tales, lies and hope.

After it became known that the Russian market is closing for a number of Armenian agricultural products, the Minister of Economy called a meeting with the participation of large greenhouse owners. According to the press release of the Ministry, the current situation in the field of greenhouse construction, the main development challenges and possible ways of solving current problems were discussed during the meeting.

The current problems naturally related to exports. The minister once again spoke about the diversification of exports, noting that along with traditional markets, it is necessary to take steps to ensure the representation of Armenian products in international markets. How, that’s another question. The knife has reached the bone, they just remembered that they should think about finding other markets for the sale of agricultural products. Something that cannot be done in one day or one month. It takes years of work. And there is still a question, will it be possible to enter new markets after that or not?

They have done nothing for it for years, and now, when the peasants are faced with desperate problems because of their political games, they have remembered about other markets. And none of those markets are waiting for Armenia and Armenian agricultural products.

The fact that 85-90 percent of Armenian agricultural products have been exported to Russia so far proves that they have not done anything in terms of creating opportunities for export in other markets. This is a blatant dependence on one market that has been there for years. But for years they have done nothing to weaken this addiction. If they did, this situation would not exist now.

The market was closed, the farmer faced the fact, the grown crop is spoiling, they just remembered about the diversification of export of agricultural products.

The Minister of Economy says that Armenia should have alternative markets for the sale of its products. As if making a discovery, it is clear that in order not to end up in such an “uncomfortable” situation, you need to have alternative markets. But not now, it was necessary to have those alternative markets a long time ago. And where are the alternatives created by the authorities?

They have not created an alternative in 8 years, when the peasant is no longer in front of the facts, they are talking about finding alternatives. It seems that others should have thought about those alternatives. The Minister of Economy speaks with such arrogance about entering other export markets, as if they are waiting for us in those markets.

“If restrictions are applied to the Russian market, Armenia is ready to completely redirect its exports to the European Union,” you don’t know if the Minister of Economy is giving hope to himself or to the peasants.

If it is ready, why didn’t you export it until now? They couldn’t do anything other than talking loudly about everything.

Until now, they have not been able to supply agricultural products to EU markets, all the issues were suddenly resolved in 1 day.

“The Armenian government has already calculated the amount of subsidies that will be required for the export of Armenian products to the EU countries, which may face restrictions in the Russian market. The authorities have already discussed with representatives of the agrarian sector the main obstacles to entering the European market. Issues related to quality and production volume have been resolved, but the main challenge remains the high level of logistics costs. For this reason, the government is considering mechanisms for subsidizing transport and customs costs for products exported to the European Union,” says the Minister of Economy.

Who are they getting hold of? If everything was so easy, why didn’t you solve it until now? In the EU, they are not waiting with cold eyes for Armenian agricultural products.

It is clear that all this is just a pre-election maneuver. Before the elections, they are trying to reassure the villagers that the implementation problems have been solved.

They haven’t solved any problems and after the elections, if CP continues to be in power, those problems will get worse. Today, only the market for sale of agricultural products is closed. Tomorrow, when gas becomes more expensive, how will the greenhouse economies get out from under it? The price of agricultural products will rise sharply, even the minimum sales opportunities that Armenian agricultural products have in some markets will be lost.

Or will you also subsidize gas prices?

This is a destructive process, first of all, for greenhouse economies. Indiscriminately, everyone will go bankrupt and remain under loans. They will pay for it with their own property and possessions.

The farmer was confronted with the fact that he is unable to export the crops he has grown, they say: we are opening small markets in Yerevan, take them and sell them. They do not understand that the problem is not in selling, but in demand. There is not so much demand inside, which means that the farmer will face the problem of even recovering his expenses.

What will be the end of this? It will happen that the greenhouse owners will go bankrupt, a large number of peasants will stop cultivating land and producing agricultural products. And Armenian agricultural products will be replaced by imported ones. This is a direct path that these authorities are paving for Turkish agricultural products in the Armenian market, with which Armenian agricultural products cannot compete.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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