Moldovan agriculture minister says native producers advance in terms of quality, competitiveness

Chisinau, 13 October /MOLDPRES/ - Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Viorel Gherciu on 12 October met a group of associated farmers from the northern Soldanesti district, who cultivate apples, pears and sweet cherries. In the discussions, the sides tackled the issue on the quality of the irrigation water, assortment of fruits from Moldova, as well as the need to diversify the sales markets.   

„We are happy that the agricultural producers advance in terms of quality and competitiveness of native products on international markets. We witness a success story, when through association, agricultural producers manage to strengthen their capacities and deliver products in accordance with the international standards and norms. We will include in the new subsidization regulation measures on the irrigation sector. At the same time, we will explore alternative ways of getting proper water for irrigation, so that we ensure the removal of toxic sediments with minimal exploitation investments, ‘’ the official stressed.

The group of producers started working in 2015, making investments in the construction of a modern warehouse for preserving fruits with a capacity of 4,000 tons.

With the support provided from the state’s budget, in 2018, we set a modern line for assorting apples with a capacity of 5,000 kg/hour, a line for assembling pasteboard boxes for packages which fit the European standards.   

In 2016-2020, the investments made by producers were worth about 43 million lei, of which about 11 million lei is the state’s contribution through the subsidization policy.

At the same time, through the World Bank’s MAC-P project, economic agents managed to endow a refrigerating warehouse with controlled atmosphere with a capacity of 1,800 tons. The project’s support was 350,000 dollars – a sum equivalent to the group’s own contribution.

„Our company is known as pioneer in the export of apples to non-traditional markets, such as the ones from the Middle East. Our group of producers cultivate according to the newest technologies and is in continuous process of identifying new markets in the European Union, countries of the Persian Gulf and North Africa,’’ the company’s commercial director, Vitalie Obrijanu, said.  

Photo: MAIA