EcoLur
Three villages in Lori Region – Odzun, Yeghegnut and Gargar listed the main problems the farmers in Armenia faced with: first- non-substantiated taxes and loans, second – absence of agricultural insurance and third – drastic increase in agricultural products. ENPI EAST FLEG 2 working group met with the residents of the aforementioned villages and tried to find out which problems need to be solved to preserve the forest and simultaneously not allow decrease in the living standard of people, who make use of forest and its goods. The meeting participants immediately started speaking about the problems.
“We want to establish cooperatives to exist, but we didn’t succeed. The authorities immediately started demanding taxes. We didn’t manage to make any profit, we were fined, so we had to close down the cooperatives. We didn’t need this headache, so nobody wanted to deal with it,” Odzun residents said.
The other residents added, “And loans… we all have loans. We don’t know how to get rid of them. In the past we had banks, but now there are some strange financial organizations, which provide loans without pledge with collaterals only. If people can’t pay off their loans, they just leave the village and leave their debts on their collaterals. This process includes not only loan takers, but their relatives, neighbors and friends….It’s a horrible process for the village, where all have relations. It’s one of the causes of mass emigration. The loan interest is 25%, though the agreement says 10-11%. When we find out what and how much to pay for, the factual interest is 25%. Nobody can endure it…”
The village can’t solve its socio-economic problems on its own. Decisions are needed to provide farers loans with normal interest and not interest rate available now. Mechanisms are needed for agricultural insurance.
Gargar village
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Eghegnut village
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September 07, 2015 at 12:00