Armenia’s farmers share concerns with Government face-to-face
’Tax time’ is often stressful, but especially for farmers in northern Armenia’s Lori region who struggle with changing legislation and face huge losses should they fail to comply. Their valid concerns have provoked World Vision to step in and help bring farmers face-to-face with government representatives and tax officials.The unprecedented meeting involved farmers and small scale agricultural producers, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Armenia, senior officials from the Armenian Taxation Committee and Lori Regional Administration.
“Every year when there are considerable changes in the tax legislation, it is just vital to explain to the farmers the changes enabling them to remain within the taxation structure”, said Mr.Tamazyan, Deputy Head of Tax Administration Improvement Department.
We do not possess a stable income and paying a regular tax is challenging for us Farmers had numerous questions and challenges that they were urged to share. “Recently a law was adopted according to which agricultural producers are included in the list of VAT-payers (Value Added Tax). We do not possess a stable income and paying a regular tax is challenging for us”, said Sassoun Margaryan, a farmer and small-scale producer from Lori Region.
Mr. Tamazyan explained that VAT should be paid only by those producers whose product turnover exceeds the 580,000,000 AMD (US$1,538,000); “this is so high that the majority of the farmers would not be among these tax-payers”, explained Mr. Tamazyan.
Liana Sargsyan, World Vision Stepanavan Area Development Programme (ADP) Manager also shared World Vision’s huge concern related to implementing animal-breeding projects for vulnerable families. “According to the state regulation on providing social allowances to vulnerable families, when a family has cattle, it should no longer receive an allowance. So when we provide a vulnerable family with a cow, they no longer receive the poverty allowance, which is of high importance to them. With just one cow they would never earn as much money as the allowance provides”, explained Sargsyan.
“This is the concern we also have in the Ministry, since we well understand that a cow in the household can only help to have fresh dairy, nothing more”, said Mr. Avetisyan Deputy Minister of Agriculture. “As a representative of civic society you should support us to cope with this problem. Right now we are discussing the issue with the Ministry of Labour and Social Issues, and your involvement will be of valuable support to us”, he added.
...when we provide a vulnerable family with a cow, they no longer receive the poverty allowance... “With this initiative we brought together two sides. This is a process of empowering the farmers since they come to understand that their voice is being heard and their concerns are addressed. It was also a good awareness raising opportunity for farmers themselves, who started to better understand relevant legislation reforms”, said World Vision Armenia Operations Manager Kristine Mikhailidi.
The farmers raised numerous concerns, among them the problem with the lack of appropriate agricultural specialists in the communities, as well as subsidizing agricultural business. As a result an agreement was made, according to which both the Taxation Committee and the Agricultural ministry will provide support to farmers in information gathering, project design, as well as professional counselling in developing agro business.
“This event helped to facilitate a dialog between farmers and government representatives, who are entitled to provide their support for overall agricultural development. We will support the organisation of similar meetings on a regular basis”, added Kristine Mikhailidi.
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“Every year when there are considerable changes in the tax legislation, it is just vital to explain to the farmers the changes enabling them to remain within the taxation structure”, said Mr.Tamazyan, Deputy Head of Tax Administration Improvement Department.
We do not possess a stable income and paying a regular tax is challenging for us Farmers had numerous questions and challenges that they were urged to share. “Recently a law was adopted according to which agricultural producers are included in the list of VAT-payers (Value Added Tax). We do not possess a stable income and paying a regular tax is challenging for us”, said Sassoun Margaryan, a farmer and small-scale producer from Lori Region.
Mr. Tamazyan explained that VAT should be paid only by those producers whose product turnover exceeds the 580,000,000 AMD (US$1,538,000); “this is so high that the majority of the farmers would not be among these tax-payers”, explained Mr. Tamazyan.
Liana Sargsyan, World Vision Stepanavan Area Development Programme (ADP) Manager also shared World Vision’s huge concern related to implementing animal-breeding projects for vulnerable families. “According to the state regulation on providing social allowances to vulnerable families, when a family has cattle, it should no longer receive an allowance. So when we provide a vulnerable family with a cow, they no longer receive the poverty allowance, which is of high importance to them. With just one cow they would never earn as much money as the allowance provides”, explained Sargsyan.
“This is the concern we also have in the Ministry, since we well understand that a cow in the household can only help to have fresh dairy, nothing more”, said Mr. Avetisyan Deputy Minister of Agriculture. “As a representative of civic society you should support us to cope with this problem. Right now we are discussing the issue with the Ministry of Labour and Social Issues, and your involvement will be of valuable support to us”, he added.
...when we provide a vulnerable family with a cow, they no longer receive the poverty allowance... “With this initiative we brought together two sides. This is a process of empowering the farmers since they come to understand that their voice is being heard and their concerns are addressed. It was also a good awareness raising opportunity for farmers themselves, who started to better understand relevant legislation reforms”, said World Vision Armenia Operations Manager Kristine Mikhailidi.
The farmers raised numerous concerns, among them the problem with the lack of appropriate agricultural specialists in the communities, as well as subsidizing agricultural business. As a result an agreement was made, according to which both the Taxation Committee and the Agricultural ministry will provide support to farmers in information gathering, project design, as well as professional counselling in developing agro business.
“This event helped to facilitate a dialog between farmers and government representatives, who are entitled to provide their support for overall agricultural development. We will support the organisation of similar meetings on a regular basis”, added Kristine Mikhailidi.
-Ends-
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