The Agricultural Subsidy Fund of Moldova will be increased to 1.75 billion lei in 2022, compared with 1.1 billion lei in 2021 and 1.5 billion lei initially budgeted for this year.
This was announced by Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, who said that the total volume of subsidies for farmers will be increased within the amendment of the Law on State Budget for 2022, which will take place in the next few weeks. According to her, the additional funds will be used to finance support measures for agricultural producers in the context of the crisis. In addition, the government will also change the logic and formula for providing aid to producers, and while previously the money mostly went to large producers, from this year there will be four categories of beneficiaries: large producers, medium, small and micro producers. "All agricultural producers are important to the government, and support is needed not only for owners of thousands of hectares, but also for small producers or those who have a family business and who also face difficulties in the context of price increases caused by the war," Natalia Gavrilita said. Prime Minister reported on the expansion of the scope of subsidies. In particular, after consultations it has been decided that the government will be able to compensate: 30% of the cost of excise duties on diesel fuel used in agriculture; up to 200 thousand lei of the interest rate on loans attracted to replenish working capital and additionally up to 150 thousand lei on loans attracted for investment projects. The measure is aimed at providing working capital. In addition, the subsidy limit will be raised to 1.5 million lei for the construction of renewable energy plants. Prime Minister said that, for the first time, the Subsidy Fund will support the establishment of perennial plantations only with varieties included in EU catalogs of agricultural plant varieties without the need to include them in the national catalog. Another innovation is that the government will subsidize the practices of energy efficiency by compensating 50% of the price for quality vegetable seeds, but not more than 2,000 lei per hectare. Subsidies will also be available to agricultural educational institutions and scientific-innovative institutions and irrigation water user associations. "We will encourage investments by young people, women and migrants who have returned to the country. We will increase the grant to 20 per cent for investments in cattle breeding, processing of agricultural products, cultivation of fruits and vegetables on protected lands and establishment of perennial plantations," Natalia Gavrilita said. She noted that the draft government decision on the measures will be published till the end of this week, and the decision itself will be approved at the next meeting of the Cabinet, after which the regulation on the enforcement of the above assistance measures will be approved. Prime Minister said that these measures will be an additional support for the agrarians affected by the crisis. The head of the Cabinet of Ministers said that over the past two weeks she had meetings with many groups of agricultural producers and the situation in the industry is extremely difficult because of rising fuel prices, especially diesel fuel, disruption of export and import routes through Ukraine, unprecedented in the history of our country price increases for the entire range of services and goods necessary to create agricultural plantations, from equipment, spare parts and machinery to fertilizers and seed material. // 31.03.2022 - InfoMarket
