Nikol, buy tomatoes: farmers blocked the road to Iran in Armenia

In Armenia, farmers blocked the Yerevan —Yeraskh international highway, demanding that the authorities solve the problems associated with the purchase of the tomato harvest, reported news.am.

“Farmers have blocked the Yerevan —Yeraskh highway today, they are protesting because of problems with the purchase of tomatoes. One of the residents of the Ararat region, Artak Harutyunyan, noted that at the moment he has 60 tons of tomatoes left in his fields, which processing enterprises refuse to buy,” the portal reports.

According to the farmers, the Minister of Economy of Armenia Gevorg Papoyan promised to resolve the issue with the purchase of tomatoes and cucumbers, but did not.

“Enterprises do not buy our tomatoes, claiming that they will not be able to export processed products,” said one of the participants of the action. After a while, the farmers agreed to unblock the road.

As EADaily reported, in June, the Rosselkhoznadzor expanded restrictions on the import of agricultural products from Armenia for sanitary reasons. The restrictions include tomatoes, cucumbers, apples and grapes, other fruits and vegetables, as well as most of the fish. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan promised compensation to farmers affected by restrictions. In less than 2025, Armenia has delivered to Russia agricultural products, which are subject to restrictions, for $240 million. All exports of the same products amounted to about $ 265 million. That is, for every 10 dollars of export earnings of Armenian farmers, about 9 accounted for Russia.