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KARO'S OLIVE ORCHARD: HARD WORK PAYS OFF!
Susanna Shahnazaryan
hetq
00:06, March 26, 2012
If you are wary of believing in miracles, I'd suggest you go visit
Karo Karapetyan's olive orchard in Meghri.
It has survived the particularly harsh winter months and is now
blooming.
Like many others, Karo used to be engaged in the wholesale trade, never
thinking that working the land could provide an adequate living wage.
Touching base with a number of suppliers of imported goods, Karo
noticed that much of their product was hardly being sold, including
olives.
He'd go around distributing thousands of cans of olives to this and
that store and, by his reckoning, the retail price was being increased
several times before reaching the consumer shelves.
Karo consulted with a number of specialists regarding the cultivation
of olives in the Meghri region. That was 12 years ago. Today, he
manages a six hectare olive orchard.
"It was really difficult at first. In 2002, most of the olive vines
froze and died," he says.
Karo also recalls asking then President Robert Kocharyan, who was
visiting Meghri, for an easy term loan to get back on his feet. Karo
says that the president promised to assist him but that he never
heard back from Kocharyan.
To raise funds, Karo sold off a number of apartments he had amassed
in Yerevan.
The plan paid off in the long run. Last year, Karo harvested his
first olive crop - 5.5 tons in all.
"Our olives are of superior quality when compared to the canned stuff
being imported. We had no problems selling the harvest," Karo says.
The olive farmer says he and his brother will can the olives themselves
and that they won't need additional credit.
"Olives are a fickle crop. That's why I decided to irrigate the
orchard with clean potable water even though I could have used water
from the Arax River. It was a huge expense."
He told me that over time local residents had moved away from farming
and gardening, even though the soil of Meghri is quite fertile.
"People started to work in the mines and at the customs house on the
border. They neglected the land under their feet," Karo notes.
He says that if the government continues to pay attention to rural
agriculture, the land can not only sufficiently feed the populace
but can provide a really decent way of life.
From: A. Papazian
Susanna Shahnazaryan
hetq
00:06, March 26, 2012
If you are wary of believing in miracles, I'd suggest you go visit
Karo Karapetyan's olive orchard in Meghri.
It has survived the particularly harsh winter months and is now
blooming.
Like many others, Karo used to be engaged in the wholesale trade, never
thinking that working the land could provide an adequate living wage.
Touching base with a number of suppliers of imported goods, Karo
noticed that much of their product was hardly being sold, including
olives.
He'd go around distributing thousands of cans of olives to this and
that store and, by his reckoning, the retail price was being increased
several times before reaching the consumer shelves.
Karo consulted with a number of specialists regarding the cultivation
of olives in the Meghri region. That was 12 years ago. Today, he
manages a six hectare olive orchard.
"It was really difficult at first. In 2002, most of the olive vines
froze and died," he says.
Karo also recalls asking then President Robert Kocharyan, who was
visiting Meghri, for an easy term loan to get back on his feet. Karo
says that the president promised to assist him but that he never
heard back from Kocharyan.
To raise funds, Karo sold off a number of apartments he had amassed
in Yerevan.
The plan paid off in the long run. Last year, Karo harvested his
first olive crop - 5.5 tons in all.
"Our olives are of superior quality when compared to the canned stuff
being imported. We had no problems selling the harvest," Karo says.
The olive farmer says he and his brother will can the olives themselves
and that they won't need additional credit.
"Olives are a fickle crop. That's why I decided to irrigate the
orchard with clean potable water even though I could have used water
from the Arax River. It was a huge expense."
He told me that over time local residents had moved away from farming
and gardening, even though the soil of Meghri is quite fertile.
"People started to work in the mines and at the customs house on the
border. They neglected the land under their feet," Karo notes.
He says that if the government continues to pay attention to rural
agriculture, the land can not only sufficiently feed the populace
but can provide a really decent way of life.
From: A. Papazian