Residents of Hatis community can only buy cigarette and sugar with the money they earn (video)
Cattle breeding is the sole source of income for most residents of Hatis community in Armenia’s Kotayk region. Villagers live on the money received from the sale of milk. “We can only buy cigarette and sugar with the money,” says Manuk Avetisyan, a resident of Hatis village. The locals cannot grow fruit and vegetables as the village does not have irrigation water. Nor do they dare to grow crops as precipitation is very low in the area. “Two years ago we did not harvest any crop,” says Samvel Garsevanyan, Head of Hatis community. “Water is one of the major problems in the village as it does not reach the community because of its highland position.” All previous attempts to solve the problem were doomed to failure. Naturally, this hinders the development of the village. “We do not have a kindergarten. The village school has 45 pupils who study in combined classes. Young people get disappointed and do not want to form families…” said Mr Garsevanyan. For many years, the villagers have been dreaming of one thing – every year they hope to get more rain to be able to harvest more crops and pay loans.
