Moldovan fruit producers take over experience of American farmers producing cherries

Chisinau, 12 July /MOLDPRES/ – A group of cherry specialists and producers from Moldova pay a visit to USA to study the most innovative crop production and post – harvesting technologies for cherries, implemented by American farmers.

The visit takes place on 08 – 14 July in Oregon and Washington. It is organised by the USAID Agricultural Produce Project in Moldova to boost the cherry farming sector, which is a perspective for Moldovan farmers.

In USA, the farmers from more regions of Moldova, which have cherry orchards, are interested in studying practical issues as to increase their harvest, improve the quality of fruit and improve post – harvest infrastructure. This knowledge will help them increase competitiveness of Moldovan fruits on international market.

One of participants in documentary visit is Mihai Chilianu, who manages several fruit orchards and expects to expand the surface of cherry orchards. According to him, the advanced cherry – making technologies implemented by Oregon and Washington farmers will help him make the right decisions.

In 2016 – 2018, there were planted an average of 300 ha of new cherry orchards in Moldova yearly. In 2017 there were 3,500 ha of cherry orchards. Also, the cherry exports increased from 1,700 tonnes in 2010 to almost 10,800 tonnes of cherries in 2018. Similarly, the cherry – making sector in Moldova faces some issues affecting competitiveness of product in markets such as non – homogeneous varieties, lack of post – harvesting equipment, inhomogeneous packaging and insufficient promotion.