Employees of the Ministry of Economy Protest Near the Government

Employees of the Ministry of Economy are staging a protest near the government regarding the reduction of 69 positions in the regional divisions of the Agricultural Advisory Innovations and Monitoring Department.

One employee, explaining the situation, stated, “Farmers need us today for advice on treatment work, advice on preventive work; we must always be by the farmer's side for agriculture to develop. Reducing specialists in the sector will not foster agricultural development. This is a severe blow to the sector, and farmers will be left alone.”

The chief advisor of the Aragatsotn division of the Agricultural Advisory Innovations and Monitoring Department also commented, “We can say that we are crossing out the agricultural sector. If 30 percent of people in Armenia are engaged in agriculture, then we will cross out the agricultural sector, especially since we do not have a Ministry of Agriculture.”

He informed that on April 27 at 18:15, they received a notice indicating an optimization, stating, “They claim to have conducted monitoring, evaluated effectiveness, and based on this effectiveness, such a decision was made,” he said.

When asked why such a decision was made and what the trend is, he expressed his opinion that the trend is to enter the Turkish market and bring in Turkish goods. “As soon as Minister Vahan Kerobyan came to the ministry, he initially said it would be better to open the Turkish market; we are pursuing a pro-Turkish policy, and 10 percent should be involved in the agricultural sector,” he added.

Employees from various regional divisions noted that all of them have higher education and that farmers truly need their consultations. Thanks to their advice, farmers can introduce innovations into their practices. “We are confronted with the fact that we are specialists, but we are being sent home from work,” said a senior advisor from the Lori division.

“Our republic has been considered a land-scarce country, with 460 thousand hectares of arable land, and 50 percent is not being cultivated. After this, that percentage will increase,” noted another employee.