Representatives of a number of farmers’ associations convened a meeting for tomorrow to decide what steps to take after Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița refused to meet with them. Earlier, the farmers asked for state assistance in overcoming the crisis in the agricultural sector by providing tax concessions to them and deferring their payments to creditors, IPN reports.

September 12 is the deadline set by the farmers for Premier Gavrilița to have a meeting with them to discuss the losses sustained as a result of the Russian ban and the drought. The farmers earlier said that if the Premier does not grant their request, they will stage protests. A final decision will be taken in the joint meeting of the boards of the National Farmers’ Federation, the Association “Force of Farmers” and “Moldova-Fruct” Association.

Among the most recent demands formulated by the farmers are to defer their payments to creditors without calculating penalties, to provide tax concessions, such as the use of VAT for paying taxes, and the compensation of farmers for their losses by offering at least 3,000 lei per ha, while in the case of fruit growers, at least 2 lei per kilogram of apples that are sold to processors or exported.

In the program “Résumé” on RliveTV channel, Minister of Finance Dumitru Budianschi said that he does not support the idea of providing tax concessions for the farmers affected by this year’s severe drought. “We have the same interests as the farmers when they experience problems, when calamities occur. We plan support programs for them. We also support and encourage the famers to insure themselves, but the general tendency is to support the farmers in a targeted way and less to apply the practice of tax concessions. We do not have other sources of incomes except the taxes paid by the citizens. We can offer back to society the same amount we collect from businesses, from the citizens. In the current exceptional situation, the farmers can be helped by targeted methods that are efficient for them,” said the official.

For his part, Vitalie Gorinchoy, president of the Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters “Moldova Fruct”, said a state of emergency should be declared in agriculture, but the protests are inopportune in the context of the security crisis in the region. “We must see who pushes us towards protests that would further destabilize the sociopolitical situation. It is a time of war,” Gorinchoy stated for Vocea Basarabiei TV channel.

The joint meeting of the boards of the National Farmers’ Federation, the Association “Force of Farmers” and “Moldova-Fruct” Association will take place at the Labor Institute on September 13. The farmers’ decision will be announced after this.