ArmInfo. Farmers have serious problems with agriculture loans. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated at a government meeting on May 17. The head of government called for discussing the issue of a partial amnesty on the credit history of farmers.
Even before the beginning of the government meeting, the prime minister asked what the situation was as a result of the hail that fell in recent days. As Armenian Minister of Agriculture Artur Khachatryan stated, the first cases of damage from hail were recorded on May 8 this year. The communities of Ararat, Armavir and Aragatsotn regions of Armenia suffered. According to preliminary information, about 350 hectares of territories were damaged in the Aragatsotn region, and losses amounted to 20 - 80% (fruit and vegetable products suffered). In the Armavir region, about 30 hectares of the territory are damaged, yield losses amount to 50 - 90%. The losses, he said, in monetary terms will be assessed within a week.
As the prime minister stressed, for today it can be stated that, in fact, there is no effective anti-hail system in Armenia, which is a serious problem. "It's very strange, but we in Armenia have announced serious changes in the field for a long time, but unfortunately, these changes were not implemented." It is necessary to find out why the farms do not use the chance to install anti-hail networks, although it is not difficult to guess that the reasons are of a financial nature", Pashinyan said.
According to him, farmers have serious problems with agrocredits, as the huge loan burden of villagers is aggravated by fines and penalties. This problem, he noted, was discussed with the chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Artur Javadyan.
The Prime Minister instructed, as soon as possible, to develop mechanisms for the release of farmers from fines and penalties and discuss the issue of a partial amnesty for the credit history so that they could get new loans. "Mr. Javadyan, I hope for active cooperation with the corresponding vice-premier who coordinates this industry so that we can overcome the problems in the sphere very quickly," Pashinyan added.
The head of the Ministry of Agriculture, in turn, informed that in 2015 the damage caused by the hail amounted to 8 billion AMD, in 2016 - 33.5 billion AMD, in 2017 - 12.2 billion AMD. The problem, he pointed out, can be solved when implementing the policy of threat prevention in the sphere. In any case, as the prime minister indicated, it is more profitable to take preventive measures than to cover the damage in the future. At the same time, Pashinyan noted that it is necessary to pursue a more intensive policy in the field in order to stimulate the production of anti-hail stocks and their mass use by farmers.