Agriculture related issues are almost the same in Armair marz, starting from the social unbearable conditions to emigration. But cross-border communities, except above-mentioned traditional problems, face other natural and artificial issues. The long distance of cross-border communities from the center of the marz can be considered as a natural problem. For example, Ervandashat and Bagaran communities are 50km far from Armavir marz center. Consequently, people in those communities spend a whole day to get, for example, a reference from the Regional Government and pay much more money for the transportation than villagers from other communities.
Therefore, cross-border communities related problems are not limited to this. The point is that majority of agricultural lands of cross-border communities are adjacent to Araqs River and belong to community farms. In order to enter their plots, villagers have to pass the first borderland and, first of all, they need to get a permit from border military unit.
Villagers get permits for the whole agricultural season. And those permits lead to many agricultural problems. Firstly, villagers cannot get permits in early spring when the agricultural works are starting. Thus, they are deprived of the opportunity to start early agricultural works. Secondly, even if they get permits, villagers have to organize their agricultural works based on borderland regulation. The latter says that villagers can enter the border zone from 08:00 to 18:00 or 19:00. Villagers of Margara community insist that frequently they face cases when there is an urgent need to carry out some works in their plots but frontier post may open the gate at 11:00 or 12:00.
During summer, especially in July and August, villagers organize their agricultural works in the early morning and in the evening because of hot weather. But, border-guards are less interested in this issue. They do not allow any villager to enter the borderland before 08:00 in the morning and at 18:00 or 19:00 in the evening they sound the alarm to leave the border zone.
During summer months villagers face also irrigation water related problems. Villagers can irrigate their plots only at night time which is excluded in case of borderland plots. Hence, the harvest is subjected to get dry.
Taking all above-mentioned problems into consideration, cross-border agricultural farms in Armavir marz have been quitting cultivating their plots in the borderland. Accordingly, thousand hectares of non-cultivated agricultural lands are exposed to desertification.