A group of Moldovan fruit farmers, especially apple growers, visited Poland in order to learn from the experience of their colleagues, including in using the accessed European funds and in conquering the EU market. The visit to Poland was organized by the Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters “Moldova Fruct” with the support provided by USAID through the Moldova Partnerships for Sustainable Civil Society Program, implemented by FHI 360.
The Polish producers form associations and this enables them to provide a common offer and to thus negotiate better conditions for them, executive director of “Moldova Fruct” Iurie Fala stated for IPN. He said that working in a group, the producers manage to influence the agricultural policies adopted by the government. “We learned that we must unite and promote our interests, but also improve the situation in the field. We must bring new sorts so as to have a more attractive offer and modernize the fruit-growing sector according to the European model,” stated Iurie Fala.
Mihai Turcanu, fruit farmer from Floresti town, said the orchards in Poland do not differ much from those in Moldova, but the post-harvest industry is much more developed and this is because the producers formed associations. “I tried to initiate an association in Floresti. I know that a leader is needed for the purpose. The small producers want to form associations, but do not have money, while those that have money, do not want to. One farmer told me that he does not want a kolkhoz anymore,” he stated.
Olga Serbushko, apple grower from Ungheni district, also considers that the joining of farmers is beneficial. Moldova is a small country and the fruit growers can join together even if they are from different regions.
Contacted by IPN, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Ion Sula said the organization of agricultural producers is one of the Ministry’s priorities and there are a number of stimuli in this respect. First of all, there was adopted the Law on Groups of Agricultural Producers, based on the experience of Poland as well. The World Bank-funded MAC-P project offers grants of up to US$350,000 to groups of producers. The farmers can also receive large sums of money through the subsidization program.
The information obtained during the visit to Poland will be disseminated within the project implemented by the Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters “Moldova Fruct”. The beneficiaries will be told how they can use the European funds to modernize their orchards. There will also be staged workshops to discuss the results of the visit.
