Moldovan authorities set action plan to solve farmers' problems

Chisinau, 13 March /MOLDPRES/- Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici and Agriculture and Food Minister Ion Sula today met farmers to discuss problems in the agricultural sector and opportunities to solve them.

"We have set an action plan. We will involve and will see how can we settle the current problems", Gaburici said. He also added that the government would search resources to increase the fund for farmers' subsidisation.

The farmers expressed dissatisfaction with the authorities' actions. The Uniagroprotect company's head, Alexandru Slusari, said that a viable solution had been identified to only one of the five pressing issues set forth at the meeting. It refers to keeping an 8-per cent quota of VAT on the agricultural products. "We received no concrete answer to the other problems," he noted. He added that the farmers requested that the fund for agriculture's subsidisation should be worth 1.2 billion lei, and not 610 million lei, as proposed in the draft budget. They farmers also opt for decreasing the price for oil products and reducing the interest rate to a 100-million-euros loan provided by Poland.

The agriculture minister said that, "in the nearest future," the authorities were to come with answers to the farmers' requests. Ion Sula also said he would like the interest rate to the Polish loan, which, according to him, would be available in one month, to be smaller.

(Reporter N. Sandu, editor A. Răileanu)