Moldovan producers of vegetables in open field to benefit from grants on behalf of United States Agency for International Development

Chisinau, 28 November /MOLDPRES/ - We Grow Together is the title of a grants appeal for the development of the sector of processing vegetables in open field, announced within the High Value Agriculture Activity in Moldova project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The deadline for submitting the participation acts is 10 January 2020.   

The grants will be provided to back companies/enterprises processing vegetables, in order to develop sustainable systems of procurement of raw material based on a mutually advantageous cooperation. By the implementation of new technologies and innovations in business, the grant activities will be used on demonstrative purpose for other sides interested in the value chain of vegetables in open field.     

The HVAA project anticipates the providing of about 2.65 million lei for the financing of this appeal and the sum provided for each grant will vary between 600,000 lei and one million lei for one beneficiary. It is estimated that the average value of a grant will be about 850,000 lei. The final sum provided will depend on the grant activities proposed and the final negotiation or it can be lower or higher than the aforementioned sum. To prove the commitment for the activity, the beneficiary’s contribution must account for at least 50 per cent of the overall value of the activity (the HVAA project will not contribute by more than 50 per cent of the activity’s value).      

The financing within this grant appeal can be requested by companies processing vegetables. Demands from the private producers will be eligible only if they have the role of a collection centre: the farmers who produce their own vegetables in open field, meant for processing and additionally buy vegetables for processing from small and medium-sized producers of vegetables, in order to supply vegetables to processors, based on the contracts on delivery signed. The applications from the group of vegetables producers will be eligible, only if the group was created to facilitate the coordinated production of vegetables between its members, in order to be subsequently sold to one or more processors of vegetables.    

The farmers interested have possibility to put questions on this grant request and get instructions on the procedure of filling in the application file at an informative workshop, due on 11 December.      

The USAID High Value Agriculture Activity in Moldova project on the period 2016-2021 is set to contribute to the development of the farming sector, in order to boost the economic growth and changes in the rural settlements, thus enhancing the well-being of Moldova’s residents. To achieve this goal, the HVAA project, along with agriculture entrepreneurs, associations of users of irrigation water and other partners, contribute to the increase in the profitability of each hectare of farmland, improving of quality and productivity of products cultivated, increasing the sales on the local and international markets and encouraging partnership in the agriculture sector.