After the famous consultation of the RA president Serzh Sargsyan, when the latter requested the statesmen to visit the villages, stand by the villager, our statesmen in their warm offices suddenly realized their love and passion to the village and the villager. And so they all rushed to the village. The request was so tensely and closely accepted by our statesmen that the expression of the love to the village has started to look like madness. The meeting of the prime minister Tigran Sargsyan and the minister of agriculture Sergo Karapetyan with the villagers of the highlands of Aragatsotn region, village named Avan, was among the meetings which you watch and realize that too bad you were not there. It was a very outspoken meeting and discussion. Specifically, the prime minister has advised the villagers to apply the method of artificial impregnation for increasing the reproduction rates of dairy cattle. And the young veterinarian of the village responded that they don’t have relevant equipment for that. The prime minister advised to conduct surveys within a year to find out how many farming economies wish to apply the method of artificial impregnation per year so that the government would provide them with the equipment. This looks like a scenario from “Kargin Haghordum” TV show. But the most impressive thing was the advice of the prime minister regarding the milking process of cows. The prime minister advised the villagers to follow the hygiene rules when milking cows. “Dear villagers, do you know that you need to wash your hands before milking the cow? Then you should cover the bucket with a tissue. The cow udders need to be washed with warm water, dry those out with soft towel. These are rudimentary rules,” said Sargsyan. We don’t know what the villagers thought at that moment, people, who have been milking cows since they were born but we believe none of them requested the prime minister to demonstrate the process of milking. Indeed, Sargsyan didn’t say all that with no grounds. He referred to the surveys of the World Bank, which showed that the primal rules of milking are not complied with in Armenia, as a result of which the milk loses its quality. And various bacteria appear in it. Nevertheless, we should appreciate the ability of the prime minister to lecture for any stratum of the society, would it be a statesman, scientist or a villager. By the way, not only the Armenian subordinates but also international organizations were affected by the request of Serzh Sargsyan. For instance, the World Bank was affected too. The board of the World Bank on March 22 approved the 16-million USD loan in the framework of the project named “project of management and competitiveness of agricultural resources of villages.” Unlike the government, which so far gives only advice and recommendations to the villagers on how to milk cows the WB concretely wishes to help the villagers. The goal of the project is the improvement of cattle breeding in 55 mountainous communities and activating the consumption of agricultural products in the country. Despite our ambitions, according to which we should become a scientific center of innovations, center of the region in terms of technological developments the regional director of the Caucasus department of the WB Asad Alam reminded that agriculture continues to be an important sector for Armenia and “despite the challenges of the recent period it should once again activate its role and conduce to the development and growth of economy.” Yesterday during the presentation of the charter on the territorial development they once again adverted to the issues of marzes. “It is apparent that the fact that all the social, economic, administrative, cultural concentration of Yerevan hinders the regional development,” said Tigran Sargsyan. In this regard, according to the prime minister, the proportional development of the territory has not only economic but also serious political content. He also mentioned that this year 10 million USD has been allotted to the regions from the state budget so that the marzes would be able to resolve their main social issues. Besides that, according to him this allocation will enable to overcome the territorial disproportion. Yesterday NA MP, RPA faction member Sukias Avetisyan also spoke about the issues of agriculture by mentioning that the villager needs easy loans, fertilizers and pesticides as well as high-quality seeds. “It is very important for the villager to clearly know that his harvest will be realized by all means because we have precedents when the villager works painstakingly on the land for a whole year, makes expenses and ends up selling the goods at very cheap prices,” emphasized Sukias Avetisyan. In a word, everybody suddenly turned their focus on the village. What caused the change of their attitude? The experts and politicians of the opposition claim that this is merely a show; that is raising the image closer to elections. The justification is that all the preaching on milking the cows and reducing the loan interest rates won’t give any results because in the villages the villages don’t trust even their village heads. We cannot say anything about the use of projects and speeches but the above viewpoint on creating a show is not quite justifiable because of the simple reason that in rural communities in the election processes they don’t need it. The poor villagers will elect the way the head of the village imposes. How else can you explain the fact that the villagers, who are always failing in their businesses and in paying the high interest rates of their loans get to vote on behalf of the government by 99,9%? In that case what is the reason of this sudden attention to the villagers? The only logical reason is the inflation. Both the CB and the government announce that the dual-digit inflation is mainly conditioned by the agricultural issues, particularly by low harvesting. It means one of the methods of tempering the inflation is the activation of the agriculture. And if the plight of the farmer may not concern the authorities then the inflation contains serious elements for a social uprising. And certain steps need to be undertaken in that direction.
