Farmer from north Moldova says incomes got from sale of vegetables to cover losses in maize, sunflower, ensuring continuity of the agricultural activity

Andrei Cazacu is farmer in the Prajila village, Floresti district, who has worked in agriculture since 2019

Andrei manages an area of 500 hectares, of which about 70 hectares are meant for vegetables. He cultivates on these lands onions, carrots, beet, peppers and cabbage. On the rest of the lands, he cultivates maize and sunflower.

This week, the farmer was visited by Deputy Prime Minister, Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Vladimir Bolea, who took knowledge of the farmer’s concerns on the spot. It is about the losses recorded because of the unfriendly weather conditions, such as the drought and high air temperature, which significantly hit the agricultural production.   

Andrei Cazacu stressed that, because of the bad weather, the harvest of maize and sunflower had been destroyed at a level of 80 per cent and the sunflower had significant losses. Nevertheless, the farmer expressed confidence that the incomes from the sale of vegetables would cover the expenses and would ensure the continuity of his agricultural activity.     

The farmer uses irrigation on those 70 hectares of vegetables and is set to extend this area in the long run  

With the support of the Agriculture Development Agency (ADMA), Andrei Cazacu bought a combine for the harvesting of onions and he is soon to take possession of a combine for the mechanized harvesting of carrots. Also, the farmer constructed a refrigerated warehouse for the preservation of his production, for which he submitted the needed documentation to the Agency of Intervention and Payments for Agriculture (AIPA) for getting subsidies.   

The farmer managed to create 30 jobs and he faces no difficulties in the sale of vegetables, and their price is satisfactory. Deputy PM Vladimir Bolea visited the fields cultivated with vegetables and was impressed by their state, appreciating the farmer’s efforts in the maintaining of a high standard of the agricultural production. ‘’There are several basic pillars bin the process of economic development of the agriculture. We talk about the pillar of economic sustainability, i.e. there should be profit. The second – sustainability of the environment. If the producer has profit, he/she is able to invest in projects on development of the environment, which need quite big investments and do not quite bring profit, for the moment. And the third – social sustainability. The higher the profits are at the economic agents from this dimension, the higher the salaries in the agriculture are. While drawing conclusions about the component number one of the programmes of the Agriculture Ministry, we speak about the economic development of the agriculture,’’ Vladimir Bolea told MOLDPRES.        

The assistance proposed by the state

The deputy PM referred to also the first set of financial measures meant for the farmers hit by the drought and other natural calamities from 2024, with the goal to facilitate their access to the resources necessary for continuing the agricultural activity and maintaining the economic stability in the sector.  

The measures proposed include the cutting of the delayed payment penalties for the farmers who have delays in the payment of the installments in 2024 because of the natural calamities. The Agency for the Development and Modernization of Agriculture (ADMA) will renounce the delayed payment penalties at a level of 100 per cent, on condition that the Notification on the attestation of the justified impediment for the non-fulfillment of the contractual obligations, issued by the Moldova’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is submitted.  

Also, a vacation of payment of six months will be provided for the due intermediary installments on the period 2 September – 31 December 2024, upon a written application by the farmers beneficiaries, based on the same Notification on attestation of the justified obstacle. At the same time, it is about the suspension of the payment of the last due installment in 2024, for the same period, 2 September – 31 December 2024, on the same conditions, based on the written application and the Notification issued by Moldova’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  

Besides these measures, decision-makers ruled to reduce the initial advance needed for the programme on development of the small-scale irrigation system from 40 per cent to 20 per cent, thus facilitating the farmers’ access to essential irrigation equipment for agriculture’s sustainability.   

„Through these decisions, we support the farmers who face major difficulties because of the bad weather conditions, providing them the support necessary for continuing their work and maintaining the stability of the agricultural sector,’’ Vladimir Bolea said.   

Also, the government will allocate about 100 million lei from the agriculture intervention fund for compensating the losses borne by the farmers. Prime Minister Dorin Recean assured that he would continue identifying additional resources for backing the farmers, in form of compensating the losses, increasing the subsidies or guaranteeing the loans by the state.   

The PM stressed the need to identify long-term solutions for the development of the agricultural sector. ‘’The climate changes force us to adapt to the new situation, to implement new technologies, to irrigate, to switch from the cultivation of cereals to products with high value added. We should act in perspective and on long-term, as the problem is repeated year after year and we can solve it only together,’’ the prime minister added.   

Correspondent: Lilia Grubii