Moldovan government doubles subsidies in agriculture

Chisinau, 28 July /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Ion Chicu today held a news briefing, during which he referred to the situation in agriculture. The PM presented the concrete actions and accurate sums allocated by the cabinet to economic agents from the farming sector, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.   

Chicu said that, because of the bad weather, the 2020 harvest for the first-group cereals (wheat, barley, rape) had been practically compromised: ‘’The 2020 year came not only with the pandemic, but also with a quite tough drought, which caused essential losses in agriculture. Almost 200,000 hectares out of the 415,000 sown with cereals were hit at the level of over 60 per cent.’’  

In this respect, despite the significant pandemic and economic crisis, in order to partially cover the damages inflicted by the natural calamities, the government will earmark about 300 million lei to farmers. As much as 100 million of this sum will be allocated from the Agriculture Subsidization Fund and 200 million lei – from the government’s Interventions Fund.  The cabinet will cover 1,080 lei for one re-sown hectare, after it was sown in last autumn. The government will allocate 1,000 lei for one hectare of wheat, affected at a level higher than 60 per cent, 1,020 lei – for barley, and 1,400 lei – for rape. The damage caused by hail will also be partially covered.   

The prime minister enumerated also the additional measures of backing farmers, recently adopted, such as: implementation of the programme on subsidization of interests and the programme on reimbursement of the value added tax (VAT), approval of the draft law on subsidized insurance in agriculture, which provides for the increase in the level of subsidizing the insurance premiums from 50 to 70 per cent and extending the field of law’s action through giving possibilities of subsidized insurance of both the quantity and quality of the agricultural crops’ harvest.      

Ion Chicu also referred to a regulation which establishes the way financial means are provided, meant for partially compensating the expenses borne at the sowing and maintaining of the first-group cereal crops hit by the drought and maintaining the horticultural crops affected by hail. The compensations will be provided to farmers, whose crops were compromised at a level of more than 60 per cent, through the Agency of Intervention and Payments in Agriculture.   

The PM urged farmers to focus on a constructive dialogue with the competent authorities from this sector and ignore the political speculations: ‘’Dear farmers, do not allow political locusts enter your sector. You have a quite rich experience in the interaction with different governments and state’s authorities. If politicians interfere with this sector, the branch is not going to flourish. The government comes up with sufficient measures at this stage, to provide you with support. I call you to prove understanding and dialogue,’’ Ion Chicu said.