Panic in Aygebats as Village Grain Disappears from Fields

Residents of Aygebats village in the Shirak region's Akhuryan area are experiencing panic and confusion. Villagers went to the fields to harvest wheat and barley, only to find the fields already harvested. There was not a single stalk left in anyone's field. The field mice have carried everything away underground.

In an interview with Haykakan Zhamanak, the administrative head of Aygebats, Sasun Vanetzyan, expressed uncertainty about how he and his fellow villagers will cope without the harvest. While field mice are not a new phenomenon in the area, even the elders of the village do not recall their numbers being so significant that they could steal and transport the entire village's grain.

“We dig 20-30 cm down, and kilos of wheat will come out from under the soil,” Vanetzyan said. This year, the mice became active in the last week, especially in the last day and a half, to the extent that many villagers could hardly believe their eyes upon seeing their clean fields.

So far, they have managed to compile a preliminary report, which indicates that the mice have completely destroyed grain from approximately 60 hectares of farmland. A commission has been formed, and they have moved from field to field to document the situation and presented the data to the Shirak regional government, from where it was forwarded to the central government.

“There were farms where some stalks remained in the fields; they suggested harvesting them to at least clean the fields and salvage some part of the crop. They incurred costs of 27,000 dram per hectare for harvesting, with an additional 5,000 dram for transporting the harvest home. A total of 100 hectares have been harvested, but if one hectare was expected to yield 3-4 tons, they have only managed to gather about 200-300 kg, equating to just 16,000 dram worth of wheat. These people have suffered double losses. They had already suffered once from hail, but had managed to recover their grain,” Vanetzyan remarked.

He stated that the crops were mostly uninsured, and those who had insurance had it only for hail damage. The report does not mention mice.

In the Aygebats administrative area, there are 1,850 hectares of arable land, where preventive measures against rodents had been implemented timely. The official says these have been ineffective, with mice attacking again within two days. Now, the field mice threaten the villagers' potato crops as well. After emptying the grain fields, the mice have moved into the potato rows.

“I also have a harvest, I put poison two days ago, and today I found new burrows; you can’t imagine, there are thousands of burrows, thousands. We hope to at least save the potatoes,” Vanetzyan said.

There were 355 hectares planted with wheat, half of which no longer exists, and the partial harvest does not solve the problem. This year, they were expecting a bountiful harvest; from rain-fed lands, a minimum of 20-30 quintals per hectare, and from irrigated lands, 60-70 quintals.

Regardless of this unexpected setback, they are preparing for the autumn planting in Aygebats, planning to start work in September, but it is uncertain how the mice will behave then. It is also unknown how villagers who have undertaken agricultural work on loans and debts will manage their financial issues after this disaster. In a village of 185 households, only about five families do not have debts, while the others have multiple loans.