Gagik Tsarukyan's Company, Annual Receiver of 30,000 Tons of Grapes, Refuses to Take Grapes Today; Protest by Grape Growers in Front of Government

Grape growers from several villages in the Armavir Province are staging a protest in front of the government, demanding that their grapes be purchased. They report that the grapes are already spoiling, but they do not know to whom they should deliver them. This information was provided by Sputnik Armenia.

“Gagik Tsarukyan’s company, ‘Noy,’ is not accepting grapes today, while we used to deliver 25-30,000 tons of grapes there annually, which is why we are in this situation. If the government were doing its job, it would clarify its relationships with processing companies and we wouldn’t be in this situation today. In fact, these people are harming us,” said one of the farmers.

The grape growers say that if ‘Noy’ does not accept their grapes, their issue will remain unresolved. According to one farmer, previous years when they blocked roads for the same issue, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan promised them that they would not face such a problem again. They wish to meet with the Prime Minister to understand how their issue will be resolved.

Another farmer mentioned that he has been working with Gagik Tsarukyan’s factory under contract for 15 years, receiving 150-155 drams per kilogram of grapes, but he only learned at the end of the year that the factory would no longer be purchasing grapes.

“I have a harvest of 120 tons; what should I do now? If I had known they would not process my grapes, I would have destroyed my vineyard and planted something else,” said the man.

They assure that they have contracts signed with the factories. The grape growers have already had a meeting with the Ministry of Economy, but the responses they received did not satisfy them.

The protesters were offered to send three representatives into the government for a meeting, but they refused, demanding that officials come down to meet them.

The news outlet reminds that yesterday, Armavir Regional Governor Hambardzum Matevosyan met with the grape growers and said that currently, out of the seven operating companies for grape purchases in the region, six are conducting purchases (the exception is the Ararat Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory in Amasia), which has complicated the situation. However, he did report that three of the companies operating in the region expressed their willingness to purchase an additional batch of grapes.