Armenia hires Iranian shepherds for $400 to $500 a month

Armenia plans to take Iran's place in the livestock market of the Persian Gulf countries and Iraq by raising one million head of livestock. Iranian media reported that Armenia is hiring Iranian shepherds with salaries of $400 to $500.

A report published by some Iranian media criticized Armenia's "show-off and bravado" and "taking over Iran's livestock market in the region."

For about three years, Iranian livestock exports have been banned due to "wrong export policies," and foreign markets have not been able to purchase Iranian livestock.

With Iran's withdrawal, regional markets, including the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf and Iraq, have fallen into the hands of Armenia and Georgia.

Mansour Pourian, head of the Islamic Republic's Livestock Supply Council, told ILNA news agency in this regard: "Livestock transit from Armenia to the Persian Gulf countries takes place through Iran, and this issue reminds us that these were once our markets, but unfortunately we lost them due to wrong export policies."

In response to the question that a job advertisement has been circulating on social media for some time, stating that Armenian livestock producers are seeking to hire Iranian shepherds who are fluent in Arabic, Pourian said that Armenia has set its agenda to produce one million heads of livestock in order to take over the Iraqi and Persian Gulf markets.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has always stood by Armenia during its difficult 30-year period of independence, but the country's current approach regarding "how to take over the regional livestock market" that was in Iran's hands has been criticized by Iranian economic activists.

The head of the National Assembly of Livestock Exporters also emphasized that Armenia is using its production capacity to capture the large markets of Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.

This economic activist said that these countries have a significant demand for buying ewe lambs. Iranian ewe lambs that have not yet given birth are very attractive to Arabs, so they hire Iranian shepherds to bring their quality closer to Iranian production.

Mr. Pourian explained the reason why the shepherds are fluent in Arabic: "Arab countries travel to Armenia a lot to buy livestock, and since they have a language problem, they tend to enter into transactions with those who are fluent in their language."

Source: DW