Future Technologies Activity (FTA) intends to launch two new projects in Moldova: Digitization of Agriculture with a budget of 5 million lei and Sustainable Agriculture with a budget of 2 million lei.
This was stated by Director for Markets and Partnerships of the USAID Future Technologies Activity Project Diana Lazăr at AgTech conference dedicated to digitization of agriculture, which was held on April 12 in Chisinau. She noted that specialists of FTA and the Ministry of Agriculture of Moldova are in the final stage of discussing new projects. In particular, the project Digitization of Agriculture is planned to be launched in June. It provides grants and technical assistance to farmers who intend to implement innovative technologies in their production process. The key stages of the project will be market research and development of a strategy for digitizing farms. The second project, Sustainable Agriculture, is scheduled to be launched in May. The project will provide farmers with technical assistance from the Future Technologies project. Details of the projects are not reported yet, as their discussion and development are not yet completed. However, as Diana Lazăr noted, FTA specialists conducted a survey among Moldovan farmers in February-March 2022 to find out the current level of digitization of agriculture in our country. In particular, they found that 65% of farmers stated that the private sector is poorly informed about the possibilities of new innovative technologies for farming. Among the biggest difficulties faced by farmers were: lack of access to financing (in particular to grants), the high cost of specialized equipment, ignorance of new technologies, the high cost of implementing new digital technologies, etc. At the same time, of the new technologies most familiar to farmers, farmers highlighted weather stations, automatic irrigation systems, GPS-systems and the use of drones. Diana Lazăr noted that, due to the lack of information about the agricultural assistance programs, 77% of farmers said that they had not received any support, grants or technical assistance for the implementation of digital technology in their production. Present at the conference, Moldovan Minister of Agriculture Viorel Gherciu said that the authorities will place great emphasis on informing farmers about new technologies, as well as on their implementation. Particular emphasis will be laid on information resources for farmers, where they will be able to obtain all necessary information on existing support programs. It is also planned to create a digital register of agriculture with all the data on this sector of the national economy. The Future Technologies Activity (FTA) was launched by USAID in November 2021 with a budget of $32.8 million, a five-year project, and a continuation of the work done in the last 15 years with the support of USAID in the development of strategic sectors of the Moldovan economy. It is expected that by the end of the project in June 2026, at least 600 companies will be involved in it, more than $75 million in investments will be attracted, and more than 100 innovations will be introduced in 15 international markets. Also 15 business associations in IT and innovations will be created, 45 initiatives will be offered to support digital economy, 50 courses will be held to adapt IT and innovations to the market requirements and more than 15 thousand new jobs will be created in this sector. // 12.04.2022 - InfoMarket
