Who lies, farmers or Ministry of Agriculture?

Recently Lurer.com referred to the issue of forage deficiency in rural communities. In order to check the information, we  called  the heads of rural communities, most short of forage- Rya-Taza, Alagyaz, Berkarat, Nerkin Bazmaberd rural communities of Aragatsotn Region, and talked to the residents. The latters confirmed the rumors of forage deficiency and said, that whoever has the opportunity, gets from another places with very high price- 1600-1700 AMD for a pack, and whoever doesn’t, is obliged to slaughter a part of the cattle, in order to feed the others. And in response to the question, whether they are able to gather forest grass without any obstacles or not, 3 of the governors had responded, that they are far from forests, and the governor of Rya-Taza village said, that they are charged 8000-12000 AMD per hectare, despite the order of the Ministry of Agriculture to dispose the forest grass to the farmers free of charge.
Yesterday, on August 29, the Ministry of Agriculture released a statement in an attempt to deny the fact. The official media of RA MoA reports: “Ministry of Agriculture is urging the farms and farmers, to seek the responses to all the questions relating  agriculture in the professional analysis, publications and data of Ministry of Agriculture, and refrain from questionable, misleading, and sometimes even deliberately publications.”
It is surprising how the Ministry "calmly" reports, that RA has no forage problem, when farmers themselves prove it.
Lurer.com once again contacted to the governor of Rya-Taza, Ahmad Broyan, who confirmed, that the MoA and the Regional office of Aragatsotn region are taking steps to support the farmers. He particularly said, that their entire village has decided not to slaughter the cattle, because they’ve been promised to be provided with concentrated forage and also to be given the 8-10 % loan to buy grass. He also noted that the forest of Aparan already permits to reap grass for free, though, about two weeks ago they had to pay 8,000 -12.000 AMD per hectare.
Alagyaz governor Aziz Mhoyan said in an interview with Lurer.com, that even though the price of the grass has decreased by 200 AMD from 1,700 AMD, it’s not a solution t the problem, since 1 cow consumes 100 packs of grass during the winter, which is 150000 AMD, while the cow milk is sold for only 90-100 AMD.
How is the farmer supposed to seek the responses to his questions in the professional analysis and publications of Ministry of Agriculture, when he faces forage deficiency and is obliged t slaughter a part of the cattle, and the Ministry calmly declares, that Armenia doesn’t have that problem? “because grass is abundant in many regions”. Doesn’t the Ministry of Agriculture think how the farmer is to get the “abundant grass” of nearby regions? That it is also associated with expenses, and the farmers lack that opportunity and are obliged to slaughter a part of the cattle to get money, so to be able to gain that “abundant grass”.

In conclusion it can be said, that almost all of RA media referred to the issue of forage deficiency, so it cannot be misinformation and topic abuse, as the official media of the Ministry of Agriculture reports.
Lurer.com is to be consistent in the issue of Ministry’s support to rural areas, having forage deficiency. If a farmer is not able to find forage for the cattle, then he, eventually is obliged to sell or slaughter his cattle, which, will lead to a new wave of price rise of beef in 2013.