Over 1,120 Moldovan farmers receive overdue subsidies for 2015

Chisinau, 8 April /MOLDPRES/-Referring to data published by the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture, the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry said more than 1,120 farmers received overdue subsidies for 2015, accounting for 18 million lei. Thus, 465 farmers got their subsidies during the week.

The ministry states that 2,525 more farmers still need to receive their money. The payment of 2015 overdue subsidies started last week.

Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Eduard Grama said subsidy debts for 2015 accounted for 400-430 million lei. Grama added that a law on subsidization had been carried out and it would be submitted to the parliament, hoping that it will be adopted during the spring-summer session. “The law sets out subsidization principles and will help avoid problems, debts inclusively, which are usually caused by the approval of the subsidization regulation every half year,” Grama said.

The subsidy fund for farmers accounted for 610 million lei in 2015. An amount of 231.5 million lei of this money was used to pay off debts for 2015 and other 45 million lei were paid as compensations.

The Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry’s information and media communication service says that a government draft decision on the distribution of the subsidy fund for 2016 was submitted for public consultations until 13 April 2016.

The document provides for new subsidization measures, in order to promote and develop ecological farming, as well as consultancy and training services for Moldovan farmers. The draft also sees that young and/or women-farmers will benefit from an additional amount of 15 per cent of the subsidy's total value.

The project was aligned with the requirements of the European Commission, included in the financing agreement of  ENPARD Moldova Programme – Support for Agriculture and Rural Development.

(Reporter V. Bercu, Editor L. Alcaza)