Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Bolea reported to parliament on subsidies provided to farmers in 2021-2023.
As the minister noted, in 2021-2023 the size of the Subsidy Fund amounted to 5.9 billion lei. During this period, the number of economic agents who received subsidies increased from 4608 to 8233. At the same time, the number of applications for subsidies increased from 23759 to 16321. “This is due to the fact that the subsidy measures developed over the past 3 years by the Ministry of Agriculture correspond requirements of the business environment and farmers. Along with business development, farmers created new jobs. Thus, in 2021, 1,333 new jobs were created, and every year about 1,000 new jobs are created in agriculture,” said Vladimir Bolea. During the reporting period, 90% of the beneficiaries were classified as micro and small farmers, who received 70% of the funds allocated by AIPA. With these funds, 600 hectares of farmland were built and reconstructed for growing fruits and vegetables on closed ground. 4611 hectares of perennial plantings have been planted, of which 3389 hectares of fruit plantations, 1008 hectares of vineyards, 98 hectares of fruit bushes, 116 hectares of aromatic crops. “All of this means highly efficient agriculture. When we talk about gardens, we mean intensive or super-intensive gardens. These are new plantations created over the past three years,” the minister said. He also noted that as a result of the war and the ongoing Russian embargo on apple exports, 10,361 hectares of unproductive perennial plantings or varieties that were not in demand by end buyers were uprooted. Of these, 4,537 hectares are vineyards and 5,824 hectares are fruit plantations, the clearing of which was subsidized by the sectoral ministry. In addition, the area of perennial plantations protected from rain and hail increased by 961 hectares, and 1,380 hectares of vineyards were modernized. Herewith, over these 3 years, 402 agricultural farms were repaired, including 156 beekeeping farms, 114 cattle farms, 34 poultry farms, 80 sheep and goat farms, 10 pig farms and 8 rabbit farms. During the reporting period, 243 refrigerators with a total storage capacity of 80 thousand tons of fruits and vegetables, 45 packaging shops, 5 lines and packaging shops for cherries were built and modernized, which made it possible to increase exports to the EU from 170 tons to 2900 tons of cherries. A total of 304 post-harvest infrastructure facilities were modernized, 261 of which are intended for processing plant products. “This is the policy of the Ministry of Agriculture on the transition from the production and export of raw materials to processed agricultural products. Moldovan farmers produce high-quality products, and we must succeed in modernizing agriculture in the industrialization segment and move from the production of raw materials to final products in order to export these products,” said Vladimir Bolea. The minister added that 230 irrigation schemes were subsidized, covering a total of 7,000 hectares of agricultural land. 29 thousand hectares of ecological agricultural land were preserved in agricultural use. // 15.02.2024 — InfoMarket.
