For Release June 19, 2005

A Visit to a New Democracy

AGRI-VIEWS
by Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent

A couple of weeks ago I had the privelege, along with friend and fellow Junction Citian Alex Kotoyantz, to be a member of a civic delegation from Kansas visiting the country of Armenia. The trip was through the State Partnership Program which is administered by the National Guard. States are teamed up with countries that have developing democracies. There are several goals of this program but some of the principle ones are to assist countries with development of democratic institutions, foster open market economies to help develop stability and to project and represent United States humanitarian values. I was there to examine and evaluate possible partnership in the areas of agricultural production and marketing.

Armenia, a former Soviet state, became an independent country in 1991. It is located at about the same latitude as Kansas. It is a small country, 11,500 square miles, about 1/7th the size of Kansas, but with roughly the same population, a little under 3 million. It is located in the transcaucasus region of western Asia, the area often refered to as Asia Minor. It is located east of Turkey, north of Iran, south of Georgia and west of Azerbaijan. It is landlocked, like Kansas. Te Turkish and Azerbaijan borders are closed making import and export of goods difficult, but necessary as about one half of their food has to be imported. It is a mountainous country, recent geologic history is volcanic. They have very fertile soils and excellent crop production potential especially in the western river valleys.

We were gone for about a week so we had a whirlwind trip. Since I was with the agriculture group, we were able to get away from the capital city a little more than the other members of the team. Being a former Soviet state that has only been independent for 14 years, there are a lot of vestiges of the past still present. Many signs and billboards are in Armenian and Russian. Surprisingly, to me, was the apparent growing number of signs in English and Armenian. The people are very friendly, in fact very American friendly. We were treated very well wherever we went.

Like so many countries where democracy is still a new thing, Armenia has its struggles. Apathy is probably the biggest challenge the country faces, not unlike our own. There were some problems in the last election, but the independent monitoring organizations felt that these problems did not change the outcome of the election. Through intense efforts by many countries and organizations, however, the economy is steadily improving.

Having two closed borders makes import and export of ag products or any products difficult. When the country gained independence from the Soviet Union, the collective farms were split up and many people became small property landowners, often of less than 10 acres. These small tracts, and lack of readily available agriculture credit, make larger scale commercial agriculture very difficult. I saw alflafa and grass being cut and raked by hand and then a tractor and small baler would come along and bale the hay. Hand labor is common and cheap. Much of the land is being used to grow horticultural crops like potatoes and tomatoes.

Visiting a country like Armenia is a great way to appreciate what we have here in the United States. It is amazing what we take for granted. In fact, I think we often take everything we have for granted, because we haven't known or seen anything else. If you want to really appreciate what we have, simply pay a visit to a country where democracy is still a teenager!

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