The animal breeding sector faces problems following the limping reforms. The concentration of animals in domestic farms and the small areas of crops intended for fodder are the key problems. The reduction in livestock hasn’t been stopped this year and the number of animals of all species declined. Consequently, the animal breeding sector cannot satisfy the demand for consumption and industrial processing on the home market and this favors the importation of similar products, programs director of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul” Viorel Chivriga stated in the program “15 minutes of economic realism”, IPN reports.

According to Viorel Chivriga, the production factors market should be liberalized and measures should be taken to protect the domestic market of animal products as Moldova is invaded by products imported from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Romania, and Poland. The small and medium-sized animal farms should be modernized and outfitted with high-quality equipment, while the quality and volume of crops for fodder should be raised.

As regards agricultural crops, the farmers are satisfied with the harvest. The yield of first-group grains was 1.1 million tonnes on average. About 350,000 tonnes of these will be used domestically for sowing in autumn and for satisfying the needs of the bakery industry and animal breeding sector.

Viorel Chivriga noted that to ensure greater progress in the agricultural sector, the agricultural farms should be modernized faster, Moldovan farmers’ safer access to foreign markets and first of all to the domestic market should be ensured and the vulnerabilities in the sector should be eliminated. The vulnerabilities derive from the exodus of labor force from rural areas and old agricultural infrastructure, in particular the irrigation systems.

The program “15 minutes of economic realism” is produced by “Viitorul” in partnership with Radio Free Europe.