Gross agricultural production in Moldova this year will drop by at least 30%, compared to 2021 - Veaceslav Ionita.
The economic policy expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) Viitorul made this forecast while commenting on the data of official statistics, according to which the gross agricultural output in farms of all categories in January-September 2022, according to preliminary data, amounted to 28 billion 176.9 million lei at current prices, decreasing by 18.3% compared to the same period in 2021. He noted that the data of the National Bureau of Statistics for 9 months of 2022 confirm the earlier expressed concern, and the gross agricultural production in Moldova this year will fall by at least 30% compared to 2021. Veaceslav Ionita said that he spoke about the risks of falling agricultural production this year back in the spring at the National Business Agenda Platform organized by IDIS Viitorul. According to him, there are many factors for this, but there are two main ones. In particular, productivity in the vegetable sector is almost 2 times lower than last year. The main reason is the drought and poor use of fertilizers due to prices that are 4-6 times higher than last year. Earlier, Moldova imported 75% of fertilizers from Russia. In addition, the expert pointed out that last year was the best in the last 30 years, so there is a decrease in Moldovan agriculture compared to 2021, but not compared to previous years. He also urged not to forget that last year in the fourth quarter there was an "abnormal" growth, unprecedented, which experts still cannot fully explain. Accordingly, the curious growth in the fourth quarter of 2021 will spoil all the figures in agriculture. “Summing up: this year we have a weak year in agriculture, but compared to the years before 2021, it is relatively good,” said Veaceslav Ionita. // 03.11.2022 - InfoMarket.
