Moldovan PM meets representatives of farmers' associations and federations in country

Chisinau, 14 August /MOLDPRES/- Prime Minister Ion Chicu had a meeting today with representatives of farmers' associations and federations in the country to discuss the current situation in the agricultural sector as a result of severe drought and hail this year, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.

During the talks, farmers appreciated the government's initiative to invest money for 2021 to restore irrigation systems.

Farmers believe that political involvement will aggravate the situation in the sector, therefore they have proposed the creation of a discussion platform between farmers' associations and federations and the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment and the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure. Such a platform would create long-term strategies in the agricultural sector.

Also, farmers noted they do not want to put on the shoulders of the state the problems of an economic sector and came up with concrete proposals that do not require immediate financial investment.

However, farmers asked for the exemption from paying wages and land taxes for farmers affected by the disasters by 2020 and tax holidays for the first six months of 2021. Farmers have also called on the government to take measures to protect domestic producers from cheap imports and of suspect quality.

The Prime Minister welcomed the initiative of cooperation of representatives of agricultural associations in the country to identify concrete solutions to the situation in the largest branch of the national economy that is seriously affected by drought.

He said that the government has ordered the allocation of compensation for farmers who have registered losses to group I cereals. To this end, the government has allocated 200 million lei. During the discussions, the farmers claimed the increase of the subsidy from 1,050 lei to 3,000 lei / ha. He noted that this is impossible under a budget deficit of 17.5 billion lei.

The Prime Minister asked Minister of Agriculture Ion Perju to continue to pay visits in the territory to find efficient solutions together with the farmers to overcome the critical situation in the agricultural sector.