Farmers Yet to Receive Compensation for Lost Pigs; Prepare for Protests

Farmers from Kamari village in Kotayk Province have reported that they have not yet received compensation for their lost pigs, which perished earlier this year. In conversation with Sputnik Armenia, the farmers stated that the Ministry of Economy initially promised to reimburse 75% of their losses, later lowering the figure to 55%, but to date, no funds have been allocated to the farmers.

The farmers are also uncertain about the cause of their pigs' deaths. In February, they had alerted authorities that their pigs had contracted African swine fever and were dying, yet appropriate actions were not taken by the relevant bodies.

Many farmers took loans to sustain their pig farming, but are now unable to repay them. They were assured that their loans would be frozen after the loss of their pigs, but no steps have been taken in that regard. One farmer recounted, “For seven months, I’ve been trying to gather money from various sources to repay my loan. But as of the 10th of this month, I have already failed to pay back 700,000 drams, and today is another payment deadline for 240,000 drams, which I also can't pay.”

Another farmer, Varoujan Nersisyan, noted that following the incident, officials from the Ministry of Economy visited the community and held a meeting, but documented only part of their losses. “I lost 60 animals, 30 of which died about 5-10 days before the others. Ten were sows, one was a boar, and the rest were piglets aged 5-6 months. They chose not to document these, as it involves a significant amount of money. When I contacted the Food Safety Inspectorate and asked why those 30 dead pigs were not recorded, they said they hadn’t seen them and couldn’t document them. But our village veterinarian was with me. If they don’t believe me, they should consider his testimony,” Nersisyan asserted.

He further claimed that instead of recording 60 animals, they only acknowledged 30 and categorized those as piglets, each valued at only 35,000 drams.

Farmers are now preparing to stage protests outside the Ministry of Economy and government buildings, hoping that compensation will alleviate some of their damages.