Farmers Have Not Received Payments for Milk Deliveries

Milk has been delivered, but payments have not been made. This is the essence of the complaint presented by residents of the village of Byurakn in the Amassia community.

For 5 months, the collecting organization has not paid the farmers, resulting in debts of up to 350,000 drams for each individual. They do not have contracts with the collecting company and have conducted transactions solely based on verbal agreements.

Now, the farmers are demanding their money be paid. The only person held accountable, who visits the village almost every day, is the driver of the collecting company. Those who have the largest number of livestock and deliver milk daily gathered in the village center. They all provide their milk to the same company.

They had been satisfied with the collector, who also seemed pleased with them, until 5 months ago when payments for milk deliveries started to be delayed and eventually completely stopped.

The farmers do not have an agreement with the collecting company, nor do they possess paperwork confirming the amount of their debts. They were unaware of which collecting company had taken their milk.

They were only familiar with the driver, who had collected milk from Byurakn for various companies over the years. They have been working on a trust basis, and it has resulted in the farmers being exploited.

“We had seen the driver several times before. For several years, he collected milk from our village. He would pay us reliably, and we trusted him. But now it has been 5 months since we have seen any money. The driver says the manager hasn’t paid, and the manager claims he only has 2 months of debts. We are demanding our money and do not understand where our funds have gone,” residents of Byurakn told SHANTNEWS.am.

It turned out that the “Hovhannes Shaboyan” individual entrepreneurial company has been collecting milk from Byurakn. The head of the collecting company has promised to resolve the issue by the end of the month. Today, they also stated that before making any payments, they need to compare the amount of debt they have with the figures presented by the farmers.

The company does have debts, and the manager does not deny it. Milk collection is a seasonal process during which financial difficulties have arisen.

“Farmers hand the milk to the driver, who then brings it to us. We have had seasonal issues and delays. Everything still needs to be clarified. We must compare how much debt we have. We will sort everything out, and by the end of the month, the issue will be resolved,” said Hovhannes Shaboyan, the manager of the collecting company.

Many in Byurakn have already refused to collect milk. Some have started supplying it to other organizations, but there are also farmers who continue trading with the indebted company. They said they will continue to deliver milk until the next deadline for repaying the debts, which is set for the end of October.