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We and Our Mountains,[br]have you seen this movie?

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I'm sure you did, and I think[br]you will agree with me

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that this is the masterpiece[br]of the Armenian cinematography.

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Every time you watch this movie,

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you discover something new[br]on a broad range of topics,

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starting from politics[br]and even agriculture and economics.

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I'd like to share a piece of that movie,

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that I consider very important

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for each farmer, an economist[br]and even a policy maker.

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Let's watch that.

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(Video in Armenian)

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[Do you think taking the herd to the city[br]like this is the right thing to do?]

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[First, we are not sheep sellers;[br]the State is the one buying it.]

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[We are not supposed to get there[br]and ask them to buy our sheep.]

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[They need to come and ask[br]if we have any sheep to sell.]

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[Then they need to send[br]100 trucks to load the sheep]

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[and get to the slaughter house[br]in half an hour.]

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[There are 830 sheep ...[br]70 km distance in two days ...]

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[Each sheep in these two days[br]will lose at least two kg of weight.]

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[830 times two ... 1,660 kg]

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[or 1.6 tons of meat loss.]

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[1,600 divided by 20 makes 80 sheep.]

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[If someone supplies an extra 80 sheep,]

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[the State awards him the title of hero.]

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[His photo gets published[br]in newspapers in Moscow,]

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[and he gets 1,000 rouble reward.]

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[Now we are witnessing a loss[br]of 1.6 tons of meat,]

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[but nobody will blame us.]

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[While actually we should be imprisoned.]

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It's amazing, yeah?

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It's amazing how literate were[br]the Armenian farmers in the 1960s.

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(Laughter)

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In one minute, Pavle was able to recognize

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that he's losing[br]live weight of the animals,

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calculate how much was lost,

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and even suggest that, by the law,[br]they are to be imprisoned.

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He's talking about the prevention,[br]how to prevent the loss.

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In today's terms, these 80 sheep,

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which is now Armenia's[br]top exportable product,

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would be worth about four million drams.

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There'll be no farmer[br]that would like to have such a loss,

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if you realized about that.

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But in the modern world,[br]it happens over and over again,

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in many sectors of the economy.

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Globally, food waste and loss[br]is a hot topic, today.

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About 1/3 of the food produced[br]in the world for human consumption

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gets wasted or lost.

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This is nearly 1.3 billion tons

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or more than half[br]of the world's annual cereal crop.

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The issue should concern[br]not only the rich, developed countries

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but also small developing[br]countries, such as Armenia.

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Because in Armenia, agriculture[br]and the food processing together

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make about 30% of the GDP of the country.

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We have a lot of people[br]employed in agriculture,

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about 36% of the work force,

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and most importantly,

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we still have a high rate[br]of rural poverty, about 32% nationwide,

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but in certain regions we have[br]even more, alarming rate of rural poverty.

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Preventing food waste and loss

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will have a positive impact[br]on raising incomes;

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improving food security,[br]food quality and safety;

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on economic development;[br]and on the environment.

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We need to recognize[br]that the food waste and loss

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also represents waste of resources[br]used in the production.

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Like in my case,[br]if I lose apples and the wheat,

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then I also lose the resources[br]I used in the production

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of these apples and the wheat,

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like energy, water, land, input.

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So, irrespective of the economic[br]development of the country,

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the food waste and loss[br]should be kept to a minimum.

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We are losing food[br]across the food supply chain,

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starting from egg production[br]to the consumption stage.

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In the field

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because of improper harvest timing,

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poor machinery,

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mechanical damage;

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in the post handling[br]and the storage stage

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because of inappropriate[br]storage conditions,

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poor temperature control;

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in the processing stage[br]because of mechanical damage,

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during packaging and processing;

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in the groceries and markets,[br]because of unsold food,

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outdated food,

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poor storage conditions;

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and in our homes.

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Was it because of wrong[br]shopping behaviour?

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Plate waste?

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And again some poor storage?

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In fact I'd like to mention here

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that the loss is measured for the products

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that are directed to human consumption.

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Though sometimes, people,[br]especially in rural areas, argue that:

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"We don't waste anything,[br]we don't trash anything.

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We just feed to our cows and pigs."

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It's kind of an expensive food[br]for the cows, right?

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I wonder if they ask the cows[br]what to buy for the dinner.

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(Laughter)

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As to asking,

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we did a survey on food waste[br]and loss in Armenia

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on several selected commodities,

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and we got shocking results.

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In fact, the methodology is based

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on Food and Agriculture Organization[br]of the United Nations,

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and all allocation and the conversion[br]factors have been considered.

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Here's what we have.

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About 30% of the wheat available[br]for human consumption in Armenia

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gets wasted or lost every year.

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This is about 129,000 tons.

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The monetary value[br]of that would be 32 million dollars.

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And this is in a country[br]where wheat is a strategic crop,

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very important for food security.

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We are a net importer of wheat.

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We are importing about 60%[br]of the total wheat we need in the country.

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If we just add these three numbers[br]and convert to money,

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it would be 40 billion drams.

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Our statistics state

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that in order to eliminate poverty[br]from our country,

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we need about 84 billion drams.

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We are throwing away, just in the case[br]of these three commodities,

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about 40 billion drams.

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Where exactly we trash the food?

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It depends on each commodity.

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In the case of potato,

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the most of it happens[br]during the production stage,

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mostly due to mechanical damage[br]in the harvest time,

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and also some in the storage[br]because of the poor condition.

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And it happened to myself.

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Couple of years ago,[br]I rented a cold storage facility

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to keep my apples for the New Year,

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as many farmers do,

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and I lost 30% of it.

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It was about 1.5 tons, that time.

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This was because of poor[br]temperature control,

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there was no proper disinfection done,

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poor boxing.

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Overall it was poor storage facility.

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And many farmers still face such problems.

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In the case of wheat,

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about 26% of the loss[br]happens during the production.

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And these last two numbers, like 22, 15,

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which is the later stage of supply chain,

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37% of wheat or bread and pastry,

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we are losing in our homes[br]or supermarkets.

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The wheat loss, at the farm level only,[br]equals to nine million dollars.

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Or in other terms,

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we can buy 90 brand new[br]high technology combine harvesters.

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It's kind of ridiculous, right?

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From one side,

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because of mechanical damage[br]due to poor machinery,

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we are throwing away[br]90 brand new combine harvesters

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every year.

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In fact, in Armenia[br]we have 1,400 harvesters.

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According to statistics,

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about 83% of them are operational.

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But how operational are they?

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It's a big question.

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I remember back in the mid 90s

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when I was studying[br]at the Economics University -

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I see a lot of young people,

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I'm sure you've studied depreciation.

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Yes?

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I studied physical depreciation,[br]financial depreciation,

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accounting depreciation[br]and - a kind of a funny term -

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moral depreciation.

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Have you heard of a moral depreciation?

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A kind of a Soviet term, right?

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But I didn't realize that[br]until in Canada, a couple of years later,

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I saw a combine harvester[br]working in the field without a driver,

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through a GPS control satellite,[br]just the high-tech stuff.

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Then I realized: compared to this machine,

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our machines will be morally depreciated.

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What should an Armenian farmer do,[br]or what the farmer is doing,

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when a physically and morally[br]depreciated machine,

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like this one,

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is trying to harvest[br]the food of the farmer?

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He is praying.

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(Laughter)

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Because you never know[br]what will happen to that machine

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when the harvest is over.

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But one thing is certain:

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Until the harvest is over,[br]farmers look as tired as the machine.

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What to do?

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Let's act just as Pavle,[br]from the movie, suggests:

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Recognize, calculate and prevent.

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Recognize the fact

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that we are wasting and losing food.

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We need to make people[br]aware of this very important issue.

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Calculate the amount lost.

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As Peter Drucker said:

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"If you don't measure,[br]you are not able to manage."

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And prevent.

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Of course, I'm not saying that we need[br]to jail everyone - as Pavle says.

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But we can educate the farmer,

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we can invest in resource[br]sufficient technologies,

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we can invest in new machinery,

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we can build modern enough[br]cold storage facilities for our farmers.

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Or simply change our behavior.

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Gnel Ghazaryan, a live stock farmer[br]in Arpi village of Vayots Dzor,

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already changed his livestock management[br]behavior of the farming practices.

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He's transporting all his animals[br]to the mountainous pastures

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using trucks - like Pavle suggested -

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and he saved, last year,[br]four tons of animal live weight.

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After this study,

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I also completely changed[br]my food-purchasing behavior.

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I don't think my wife is happy about that.

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I'm now acting as a food guard in my home.

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I stopped purchases[br]of bulk quantities of food.

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I'm now doing more frequent[br]purchases in less quantity,

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paying attention[br]to the storage conditions, etc.

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The results are visible[br]in our family budget.

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If some people can change behavior,

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why can't others do the same?

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If we all change our behavior,[br]collectively as a country,

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if our development people[br]and policy makers

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pay more attention[br]to food waste and losses

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and the prevention of that mechanism,

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the results will be visible[br]in our country budget.

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And pretty soon, we'll be able[br]to eliminate poverty from our country.

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So, go home and, please, save food.

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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(Applause)