On May 12, natural disaster in the form of hail led many agricultural farms to abject poverty. Farmers who suffered 100 percent losses of their orchards and vineyards were appeared in extremely difficult situation. 100 percent of crop affected farmers are facing three almost unsolvable problems. First, they need to solve the problem of daily bread, second, to spend expenses to restore their lands and, third, to repay bank loans. Many farmers, who got opportunity, left the country, and the others, who did not find any chance of emigrating concerning age or family circumstances, stayed in Armenia and set their hopes on authorities’ compassion.
During the next day of the disaster, the registration began involving information about the volume of the plots, varieties of crops, family members, losses and so on. Until now the lists are getting updated and checked. Simultaneously, some assistance has slowly been reaching too.
The farmers were given assistance in the form of diesel fuel, seeds and Red Cross parcels. 50 thousand AMD aid is expected from the social service and almost 350 thousand AMD from the center of employment. The more the list of aid is increasing, the more concerns are growing in the hail-affected villages.
The logic of the distribution of aid is the main reason for peasants’ dissatisfaction. All assistance is addressed to the needy families who are involved in the list of family beneficiaries. This assistance is mainly used by the same people who have no other land except their croft plots; otherwise, they would not receive the family benefit and would not be categorized as socially insecure.
Villagers complain that many secure families get assistance only due to the fact that they have a close friend or a relative in the community council. All those families have their stable places in those lists of assistance.
Displeased farmers get the same answer from community governors; “You have to wait for the next stage”. But, the stages are passing through; consequently, the peasants’ complaints are only increasing.
Today hail affected families are found in socially extremely serious conditions. They have plots but they get no income, not counting the expenses spent and loans taken from the banks. Therefore, if there is an aid, it should be distributed based on the principle of justice. Otherwise, farmers are right; who suffers losses and who receives assistance.