The start of the current agricultural year doesn’t look bright, with precipitation being scarce and crops coming up unevenly. Compounding the situation are rising fuel prices and a nearly threefold increase in fertilizer prices, IPN learns from Vasile Șarban, state secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry.

“After gas prices rose, many nitrogen fertilizer plants shut down and there was a risk that those manufacturers wouldn’t be able to sell their products. Russia and Ukraine are the largest producers of fertilizers. Russia had certain export quotas, but these exports will no longer happen due to the war in Ukraine. Fertilizer suppliers turned to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, countries from which at least 20,000 tonnes of fertilizers were imported into Moldova, in addition to 88,000 tonnes that were in stock as of December 31, 2021”, said Vasile Șarban.

Although there are enough fertilizers for the first stage of the season, they are not affordable for every farmer. Farmers who will not use fertilizers will experience quantitative and qualitative losses, said Vasile Șarban.

Reports show that 433,000 hectares of crops were sown, including 255,000 hectares with wheat, as compared to the multi-year average of 320,000 hectares. This year, this average could not be reached due to insufficient humidity.

Barley was sown on an area of 54,000 hectares or 83% of the target. We have 35,000 hectares of rapeseed, but the threads have sprung up unevenly.

Tatiana Mironov, head of agrometeorology at the State Weather Service, told IPN that soil moisture levels are lower compared to February-March last year. The amount of precipitation during this February was 1-14 mm (5-40% of the standard), while some southern districts saw no precipitation at all.