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The Speaker of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan accompanied by the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Environment of the parliament Khachik Harutyunyan and deputies on March 3 visited Armavir marz/province to assess on the spot the procedure of the spring agricultural works and listen to the problems concerning the farmer. On the initiative of the Committee this is already the fourth visit to the marzes of the republic.

Governor of Armavir Ashot Ghahramanyan, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Samvel Galstyan, Chairman of the State Committee for Water Economy Andranik Andreasyan, head of the communities, specialists from the institutions related to the sphere visited the communities of the marz with the MPs.

The first stop was in Aragats community, where the residents of the villages Aghavnatun and Tsakhkalanj came to meet in the field with NA Speaker. Hovik Abrahamyan said that the parliament was willing to help the farmer together with the Government. The result, in the NA Speaker’s conviction, will be noticeable for the farmer after the same period. Hovik Abrahamyan underlined that the world economic crisis disturbed the implementation of a number of programmes. Nevertheless, according to the head of the parliament, as a result of the reduction of the crisis and financial means social expenditures have not been reduced, when in the European countries even the salaries have been reduced. The NA Speaker sees shortcomings in the works done and hopes that in the current year will succeed to record economic growth.

During sincere talk those who were involved in agriculture conveyed to Mr. Abrahamyan their concern on the high prices of the fertilizers. The Deputy Minister of Agriculture Samvel Galstyan clarified that until during the recent times the Government allocated a subsidy for getting fertilizers, and now a new order of price liberalization was functioning. That is why the fertilizers have become expensive and less accessible, though who used them, were pleased with the quality of the complex fertilizer. In these communities there were no people, who were displeased with water irrigation, saying that the number one for the farmer was the insufficiency of the financial means. Some residents of the communities spoke about their wish to replace the short-term credits with long-term credits. We’ll note that in this phase of the year village of Aragats is distinguished by abundant crop of estragon, which is exported even to the neighbouring Georgia. According to the residents of the village, they succeed to get crop three times a year.

In the next Sardarapat, Aygevan and Lenoughi village communities the head of the parliament noted that they knew about the farmers’ problems, and such visits considered important from the viewpoint of seeing the issues by the farmers’ help. Hearing about the expensive price of the fertilizers the NA Speaker said that this issue demands solution, which they will try find with those responsible of the sphere in the parliament. In these communities water does not reach all the consumers because of the depreciation of the water inner network. In Hovik Abrahamyan’s opinion, to restore the inner networks it will be more right, take them out of the subordination of the communities and authorize the relevant structures to be involved with that. It was also spoken about anti-hail stations. The Governor of Armavir presented that there was anti-hail 28 stations, to which soon 22 will join, too. 8 stations will be installed by the assistance of VivaCell. The farmers also raised the issue of consuming the agricultural products. The NA Speaker promised to help in handing the crop to processing organizations.

The deputies also visited Armavir  MAP Wine and Brandy plant, which is the main re-processing utility of the agricultural products in this territory. The plant produces many kinds of cans and wine, and 3-40 year old brandy. The director of the plant Aleksan Petrosyan said that a treaty of 25.000 tons of crop had already been for this year the laying-in of the crop, and the farmers who would completely fulfill obligations envisaged by the treaty of the last year, will receive advanced payment.

The visit to Armavir marz was summed up with the participation of the heads of the communities at the governor’s and directors of the producing-processing plants. Noting that we should more strengthen the parliament-society relations, the NA Speaker called on the heads of the communities to make the existing problems audible in the legislative body through the deputies, who received voting in their territory. The Parliament Speaker noted that the heads of the community were obliged to be aware of the farmer’s concerns. The raised problems were various: from the lack of the quality seeds up to the limited opportunities of realizing the agricultural products. The head of the Lukashin community drew the MPs’ attention to the bad quality motorways of the village. The NA Speaker’s clarified that the repair of the roads was envisaged to implement through the Millennium Challenges program, which was postponed by now. Instead, negotiations are conducted with the banks over repairing the roads through credit means. The Head of Armavir marz said that there was an agreement with the government through the state budget means end the incomplete repairing of the roads, including the roads of the village Lukashin. The Head of the village of Aknalich spoke about the expenditure of the irrigation water, saying that because of those over-norm expenditures the farmers could cultivate, they could only irrigate the soil 460 hectares from 1080 hectares. The Chairman of the State Committee for Water Economy Andranik Andreasyan said that last year 183mln drams was allocated to 70 communities for over-norm expenditure, and they were substantiated by documents and only 39mln were spent, and the rest was returned to the budget. That was such a programme, and it was not repeated this year. The head of the Argavand community raised the issue of restoring the inner water network. The NA Speaker indicated the opportunity of restoring the network with the World Bank co-financing the community by 15 per cent.

During the talk with the journalists the head of the parliament underlined the importance of the visits to the marzes, adding that the first visit to Armavir will follow the visits to other marzes. Besides practically solving the raised issues the NA Speaker considered important the problem of efficiently spending the sums. And the problem that the issue is topical became clear from the studies of the Control Chamber. “The problems, which are possible with existing resources, we’ll solve together with the Government,” the NA Speaker ensured.

As during this and other visits to the other marzes the NA Standing Committee on Agriculture and Environment will discuss the raised issues later with the format of the parliamentary hearings, combining the efforts of the responsible persons of the MPs, communities and the spheres for solving them.

During the talk with the journalists the head of the parliament underlined the importance of the visits to the marzes, adding that the first visit to Armavir will follow the visits to other marzes. Besides practically solving the raised issues the NA Speaker considered important the problem of efficiently spending the sums. And the problem that the issue is topical became clear from the studies of the Control Chamber. “The problems, which are possible with existing resources, we’ll solve together with the Government,” the NA Speaker ensured.

As during this and other visits to the other marzes the NA Standing Committee on Agriculture and Environment will discuss the raised issues later with the format of the parliamentary hearings, combining the efforts of the responsible persons of the MPs, communities and the spheres for solving them.

During the talk with the journalists the head of the parliament underlined the importance of the visits to the marzes, adding that the first visit to Armavir will follow the visits to other marzes. Besides practically solving the raised issues the NA Speaker considered important the problem of efficiently spending the sums. And the problem that the issue is topical became clear from the studies of the Control Chamber. “The problems, which are possible with existing resources, we’ll solve together with the Government,” the NA Speaker ensured.

As during this and other visits to the other marzes the NA Standing Committee on Agriculture and Environment will discuss the raised issues later with the format of the parliamentary hearings, combining the efforts of the responsible persons of the MPs, communities and the spheres for solving them.

During the talk with the journalists the head of the parliament underlined the importance of the visits to the marzes, adding that the first visit to Armavir will follow the visits to other marzes. Besides practically solving the raised issues the NA Speaker considered important the problem of efficiently spending the sums. And the problem that the issue is topical became clear from the studies of the Control Chamber. “The problems, which are possible with existing resources, we’ll solve together with the Government,” the NA Speaker ensured.

As during this and other visits to the other marzes the NA Standing Committee on Agriculture and Environment will discuss the raised issues later with the format of the parliamentary hearings, combining the efforts of the responsible persons of the MPs, communities and the spheres for solving them.