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GOLDEN APRICOT AND DEATH OF NATIONAL BRAND
The Golden Apricot Film Festival is underway in Armenia. Such
celebrities as Charles Avnavour, Artavazd Peleshyan and Atom Egoyan
are attending the festival. The symbol of the festival is the basket
with apricots which Armenians consider their national brand. Even
priests were invited to bless the basket.
One can see on the way to Noyan Cannery in Armavir Marz how Armenians
treat their national brand in reality. One will see a 5 km queue of
farmers trying to sell their national brand for 50 drams per kilo.
Journalists who filmed queue were crying at the sight of so many
poor people standing for days in scorching heat trying to sell their
apricots and earn 20 thousand drams.
At the beginning of the harvest season some companies bought an
amount of apricots to export. Nobody needs the rest of the harvest,
even though the priest of the ministry of agriculture had blessed
both the apricot harvest and farmers.
Serzh Sargsyan used to state at the beginning of his term that
Armenians need to create their own brands. Then, in 2008, Serzh
Sargsyan and Tigran Sargsyan were making plans of planetary scope:
normalize relationship with Turkey, turn Armenia to a financial,
tourism, education center, create national brands out of goat cheese
and pickled hot peppers.
As of now, they have achieved none of these goals: less cheese is
produced, the apricot harvest is rotting. During their meetings with
farmers the government officials advise chopping the apricot trees
and planting something that would generate profit.
The participation of the government in agricultural development is
limited to the minister of economy "asking" the owners of processing
companies to buy the harvest from farmers but they refuse because
it is cheaper to import Iranian apricot powder, and the minister
justifies them by saying that the directors of enterprises lack a
national thinking.
At the same time, the government passes legal acts according to which
it should be cheaper to buy local products than to import them. The
government is unable or reluctant to market organic Armenian products
and promotes the fake apricots at the film festival instead.
Naira Hayrumyan 12:05 09/07/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/right/view/30401
The Golden Apricot Film Festival is underway in Armenia. Such
celebrities as Charles Avnavour, Artavazd Peleshyan and Atom Egoyan
are attending the festival. The symbol of the festival is the basket
with apricots which Armenians consider their national brand. Even
priests were invited to bless the basket.
One can see on the way to Noyan Cannery in Armavir Marz how Armenians
treat their national brand in reality. One will see a 5 km queue of
farmers trying to sell their national brand for 50 drams per kilo.
Journalists who filmed queue were crying at the sight of so many
poor people standing for days in scorching heat trying to sell their
apricots and earn 20 thousand drams.
At the beginning of the harvest season some companies bought an
amount of apricots to export. Nobody needs the rest of the harvest,
even though the priest of the ministry of agriculture had blessed
both the apricot harvest and farmers.
Serzh Sargsyan used to state at the beginning of his term that
Armenians need to create their own brands. Then, in 2008, Serzh
Sargsyan and Tigran Sargsyan were making plans of planetary scope:
normalize relationship with Turkey, turn Armenia to a financial,
tourism, education center, create national brands out of goat cheese
and pickled hot peppers.
As of now, they have achieved none of these goals: less cheese is
produced, the apricot harvest is rotting. During their meetings with
farmers the government officials advise chopping the apricot trees
and planting something that would generate profit.
The participation of the government in agricultural development is
limited to the minister of economy "asking" the owners of processing
companies to buy the harvest from farmers but they refuse because
it is cheaper to import Iranian apricot powder, and the minister
justifies them by saying that the directors of enterprises lack a
national thinking.
At the same time, the government passes legal acts according to which
it should be cheaper to buy local products than to import them. The
government is unable or reluctant to market organic Armenian products
and promotes the fake apricots at the film festival instead.
Naira Hayrumyan 12:05 09/07/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/right/view/30401