2017 as an agricultural year is very good both in terms of the quality of products and homogeneity and the volume of production, Iurie Usurelu, secretary of state at the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment, stated in the program “Moldova live” on the public TV channel Moldova 1, IPN reports.

According to Iurie Usurelu, the Ministry’s key goal is to see where and at what price the agricultural products are sold. “The production is now being sold and a part of the summer-autumn harvests was stored in cold storage facilities and it is too early to speak about a financial result,” he stated.

Vitalie Gorincioi, chairman of the Fruit Producers and Exporters Association “Moldova Fruct”, said this April’s snowfalls damaged a part of the crops. The affected vineyards and orchards didn’t yield fruit. “The farmers knew about the tempest beforehand and most of those who work in horticulture took particular protection measures,” stated Vitalie Gorincioi, adding that the horticulturists nonetheless sustained losses, but the harvest will be yet better than last year both as regards the quality and the quantity.

Dumitru Budeanschi, programs director at the independent think tank “Expert-Grup”, said the exports of agricultural products vary from year to year. The exports of grains and technical crops have grown during the last few years. “This is not so good as these are crops with a low valued added. The strategy says we should develop agricultural businesses with a high value added. We can do this if the financing policies, subsidies and the other agriculture development programs are aimed at changing this agricultural structure and this would also increase farmers’ revenues,” he stated.