Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Ion Perju said he would like the animal-breeding sector to be revitalized so that Moldova starts to export not only grain, but also high value added products, such as meat and dairy products. According to him, Moldova now imports meat that was grown in other countries with raw material imported from Moldova and the approach in the field should be changed, IPN reports.
“We now export grain that represents raw material and import high value added products. We export grain and import meat and dairy products. Our goal is to revitalize the animal-breeding sector so that we do not export grain, but transform it into meat and dairy products and other high value added products. We import meat that was gown with raw material from Moldova,” Ion Perju stated in the talk show “Moldova live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1.
He also said that the harvests in 2020 are expected to be exposed to risks and the supply of the population with food products could be affected. A lot depends on the weather conditions this year. “Examinations have been carried out and, regrettably, the forecasts for the next two-three weeks are not the best,” noted the minister.
Ion Perju said soil moisture at the upper layer is insufficient and is absent in parts. “That’s why we proposed amending the legislation so that it allows for the maximum use of small-scale irrigation systems,” he said, adding that agriculture cannot develop without a proper irrigation sector.
The minister said that of the 517 companies that asked for permission to export to the Russian market and were to be examined by Russian experts, approximately 100 announced that they do not have the volumes needed to export to Russia. Another 40-50 companies manufacture other products than those asked by the Russian side. About 100 companies had no planted trees and didn’t operate in agriculture. They were transportation or intermediary companies and it is not known where they take the merchandise from. “Respectively, only 69 companies of the 517 were inspected as they produce, have storage places and packing and sorting houses and also export. Furthermore, there are 189 companies that produce, but do not want to bother with exports,” stated Ion Perju.
As a result, the Russian authorities were issued with a list of 207 new companies that want to export to Russia. There will be now about 340 Moldovan companies that will export fruit and vegetables to the Russian Federation duty-free.
The minister noted that Moldova earlier asked to increase the export quotas on plums, cherries and grain to the EU, but the EU requested to raise the import quotas on Moldovan chicken, pork and sugar. “It is hard to increase the import quota on sugar when there are 80,000 tonnes of sugar in storehouses that cannot be exported. The situation on the sugar market is difficult as the quantities exported to the EU were rather small,” concluded the official.
