Over 650 Moldovan farmers receive overdue agricultural subsidies for 2015

Chisinau, 1 April /MOLDPRES/-Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry today announced that 655 farmers received overdue subsidies for 2015 this week. An amount of 2,990 farmers are still waiting for their payments.

Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Eduard Grama previously said overdue subsidies for 2015 accounted for 400-430 million lei. Grama added that a law on subsidies had been carried out and was to be submitted to the parliament, and hopefully adopted during the spring-summer session. “The law sets out subsidization principles and will thus help avoid problems, including debts, usually caused by the the approval of the subsidization regulation every half year,” the minister noted.

The subsidies fund for farmers accounted for 610 million lei in 2015, of which 231.5 million lei were used to pay off 2015 debts and other 45 million lei were paid to recover compensation debts.  

The information and communication service of the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry notes that the government’s draft on the distribution of agricultural subsidies for 2016, was submitted for public consultations. The document includes new subsidization measures to promote and develop ecological agriculture, as well as consultancy and training services for agricultural producers. Young farmers or/and women-farmers will also benefit from an additional amount of 15 per cent of the subsidy’s total value.

The draft was adjusted to meet the requirements of the European Commission, provided in the financing agreement for ENPARD Moldova Programme-“ Support for Agriculture and Rural Development”.

(Reporter V. Bercu, Editor A. Raileanu)