THE NKR AGRICULTURE ON THE EVE OF THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REPUBLIC’S PROCLAMATION
Srbuhi Vanian
July 26, 2011
The issue of the July 19 round-table discussions organized by the
NKR Public TV and dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Republic’s
proclamation was agriculture. The
sphere’s official representatives, led by Minister of Agriculture
Armo Tsaturian, as well as representatives of the private sector
having agricultural products’ production and processing business were
invited to the round table.
The 20 years of independence had their heavy impact also on the
agricultural sphere – great losses took place here both during the
war and after it. Currently, in spite of the numerous and various
programs directed to the system’s rehabilitation and prosperity,
the sphere’s issues are still unresolved and numerous ‘why?’ and
‘how?’ are waiting for their answers.
What have we gained and what have we lost for the last 20 years? Thee
questions were raised by the round table initiator and host Norair
Hovsepian.
Surely, the first and important question had to be asked to the 1998
and nowadays chief specialist of the sphere, Minister of Agriculture
Armo Tsaturian – what did we have those years when the Government
adopted a resolution on taking the privatization way, was it so
necessary and was it realized in time?
The minister noted that the issue of privatization had been raised the
first time almost immediately after the cease-fire establishment and
certain disputes had taken place on it, during which A. Tsaturian,
according to him, had declared against privatization, explaining
it with the unfinished war, the unstable political and economic
situation in the country, and others. However, things were going
so that a privatization process had to start. Over 80% of the stably
developing collective farms were destroyed after the war. In 1998, when
the Government changed and Jirair Poghosian was appointed its leader,
the next day, according to A. Tsaturian, a resolution on starting
the privatization process was adopted. Levon Garoyan was invited
from the USA, who was an adviser to four Presidents on agricultural
issues. He conducted corresponding researches here to submit a package
of proposals on the further development of the sphere. L. Garoyan
concluded that the NKR people were not ready for privatization yet.
His advices were not taken into account and the new Government started
works on creating a legal field. 80 specialists were invited from
the RA, with the support of which the process of land privatization
was realized in a short period.
As a result, we had what we have – in a century, the system underwent
3 or 4 radical changes, which could not but have negative impact on
it as a whole and on land cultivation in particular.
What lessons have we learnt from our own experience and what are the
principles and logics of giving agricultural credits and other kinds
of state assistance today, when statesmen beat their brains out for
rehabilitating the destroyed system? These questions were answered by
Director of the NKR Fund for Village and Agriculture Support Vahram
Baghdasarian.
The Fund’s creation was caused by the necessity of control over
the centralized and purposeful use of the great amounts allocated
to the villagers and land cultivators within any program. Earlier,
the most part of the allocated amounts were, unfortunately, difficult
to gather. For a few years of existence, the Fund has rendered state
assistance in about 7 billion drams, about 5 billion of which –
in credits. Surely, for the last 2 or 3 years, the state support
has ensured certain results, especially in the agricultural sphere,
but there is still much to do and we can’t say that everything is
satisfying. Maybe, regretful is that today’s villager doesn’t want
to deal with agriculture and nobody can answer why. The Government
officials believe that the state is ready to do everything possible for
protecting the interests of villagers and rehabilitating the economy,
but land cultivators consider that it isn’t profitable today to deal
with agriculture, due to the lack of a favorable realization market,
corresponding conditions, and others. The efforts and expenses aimed
at getting the desirable harvest don’t justify themselves.
Answering the question why the processing enterprises don’t
establish suitable prices for getting agricultural products, the
directors of Artsakhfruit and Artsakhkat Companies introduced their
grounds. As private and profit-seeking organizations, they have
their own calculations, which don’t coincide with the producers’
interests. So, the range of economic relations seems to be endless
and hopeless, as a result of which we have a food supply problem,
increase of prices, bad development of the system, and uncertainty,
which leads to contradictions.
Whom do the attendants consider able to advance the sphere? Everybody
had his opinion on this. Surely, the basic driving force is a villager,
a land cultivator, and development can be expected via realization of
complex programs ensuring corresponding labor and living conditions
for him; and as a state policy, they noted the necessity of expansion
and creation of cooperative farms.
Unfortunately, this also still seems to fail – land owners either
have lost trust, being tired of their inefficient labor, or they don’t
clearly realize their benefit. Opinions also differ on this. Much can
be spoken about agriculture. “Especially, there is much to do in the
sphere. Besides protecting and loving land, it should be also cared
for”, said the round table organizer.
Today, we still identify what we should do. We’ll need if not 20,
but at least 10 years to really estimate whether we have efficiently
used the last 20 years for developing the sphere.
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