Fruit growers requested the government to swiftly adopt the regulations by which to provide compensations for the losses they sustained as a result of last spring’s frosts. Acting chairman of UniAgroProtect Federation Alexandru Slusari told a news conference that if the regulations are not approved in the next meeting of the Cabinet, the fruit growers will have to come and seek this in front of the Government Building, IPN reports.
According to Alexandru Slusari, about 6,500 hectares of orchards were affected by frost in northern Moldova on April 26-27, 2016. The harvest of many fruit growers in the districts of Briceni, Edinet, Ocnita, Donduseni and Rascani was 70% to 90% affected. Owing to the late adoption of the budget law and non-approval of the subsidization regulations, the farmers didn’t have legal possibilities of benefiting from the option of subsidized production risk insurance.
“Almost five months passed since September 2, but the regulations on the method of allotting compensation to agricultural producers affected by the natural disasters of 2016 haven’t been yet approved. We waited for the yearend, but see that things stagnate and the fruit growers remained with promises only,” stated Alexandru Slusari.
The acting head of UniAgroProtect said the necessary about 45 million lei was to be allocated from the Government’s reserve fund. The orchardists are to get by 3,000 to 5,000 lei per affected hectare. This money covers only a part of the losses, but the fruit growers agreed with such a sum in the created situation.
Executive director of the Association “Moldova Fruct” Iurie Fala said the members of the association suffered a lot. “During the last three years, we experienced either political-economic or natural disasters. In October 2014, we suffered a serious frost and over 70,000 tonnes of apples froze in orchards. The ban and then the depreciation of the national currency followed,” stated Iurie Fala. According to him, over 600 enterprises were affected. The damages were assessed at over 200 million lei.
The fruit growers intuit the Government delays the approval of the regulations for financial reasons. “Even if there is no money now, it would be normal to approve these regulations now and to say it politely that effort will be made for at least a part of the losses to be covered by the start of spring works,” said a fruit grower from Briceni district.
Contacted by IPN, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ion Parea said the regulations are finalized and could be soon endorsed by the executive. According to him, the news conference held by fruit growers will be a stimulus for stepping up works in this regard, while the promises about compensations made by Minister of Agriculture Eduard Grama will be delivered.
