Milk purchase price drops. Amasia residents protest

Residents of several villages in Amasia region, Shirak province, staged a protest today in connection with a drop in the milk purchase price. They tried to block Amasia-Gyumri Highway. The correspondent of Aysor.am talked with Hovhannes Sukiasian, the head of Dzorakert village administration.

- Mr. Sukiasian, what happened in Amasia today?

- People tried to block the road, they are rightly discontented.

- We were informed that the milk purchase price had dropped 10 drams, that is, farmers will have to sell milk for 140 AMD instead of pervious 150 AMD. Is the difference of 10 drams a large sum for farmers?

- It is a large sum for them. People repay their loans. Calculate how many cows a farmer has and how many liters of milk those cows produce, and then multiply the sum by ten and you will see how much a farmer loses.

- Mr. Sukiasian, what do residents of those villages do for a living?

- They raise cattle. For that reason the drop in the milk purchase price has seriously affected their social condition.

- What about emigration? For example, how many residents of your village left in search of a living?

- 70% of village residents have left to maintain their families. There are almost no men in the village - all of them work outside the country.

- Do people go abroad with their families?

“There is no such tendency yet. People lack money so women usually remain in the country in order to work and repay loans.