2024-07-11 21:40:24
If we believe the government that wheat is stockpiled and we will not have a food security problem, we cannot say the same about fodder, grain, concentrated fodder. Also, we have a serious problem of seeds of grains, legumes, fodder crops, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ashot Harutyunyan said in a conversation with Aysor.am.
“The government says that there is no projected deficit of products included in the minimum food basket. By publishing figures, they are trying to put a soft pillow under people’s heads, but it is a fact that we have widespread inflation that is not managed, not regulated,” he said.
The expert says that covering the problems with “cosmetic decoration” makes the situation even more complicated and causes new problems. There is no strategic thinking, no proactive policy.
“The Minister of Economy is calling for land cultivation, I wonder if he really expects that the call is enough to motivate people. equipment is expensive, spare parts are expensive, there is a problem with fertilizer. not only is it not imported, what is imported is also expensive, even in the case of subsidies, it is not the case that the money does not come from the state reserve. And then, first of all, there should be a seed to be fertilized, what of the uncultivated land should be fertilized?” said Harutyunyan.
The former deputy minister warns that autumn wheat sowings have decreased year by year, for two years the self-sufficiency level has approached 23-24.5 percent, but with the right agrarian policy, there are all possibilities to increase the self-sufficiency level to 80-85 percent.
“From Artsakh, they modestly say that there are no food problems, but people are in a panic mood. we should not allow food security problems to be added to the physical security problems of people in Artsakh,” he said.
The former deputy minister reminds that before the war, Artsakh was not only able to fully provide its own self-sufficiency, but was also a “storage” for RA. was not appreciated.