Potato producers can apply for subsidies from the National Agricultural Development Fund. The suggestion was made at the meeting regarding potato production and marketing by the Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment, Georgeta Mincu.
"Farmers can apply for permits for potato production in protected land, for irrigation systems and equipment, for water pumping cost compensation and for partial compensation for insurance expenses", said Georgeta Mincu.
According to the minister, it is important for potato producers to associate. "This fund promotes the association of producers. There is a need for land consolidation and for the creation of post-harvest infrastructure. Additioanlly, the development of rural infrastructure and the access to consulting and training services is necessary", said Georgeta Mincu.
Vasile Șarban, department head within the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment, said that the Republic of Moldova has the capacity to annually produce 200 thousand tons of potatoes. "Domestic consumption is estimated at over 300 thousand tons", said the ministry official. Vasile Șarban said that, over the course of the last 10 years, the business of domestic producers had to suffer due to imported potatoes. "At times, especially in spring, when there is a potato shortage, there is a very large gap between prices due to imported potatoes meant for consumption", said Vasile Șarban.
Ion Armanu, a potato producer, said that problems in the potato business started to occur since 2012, when irrigation was no longer possible. The producer said that the ponds used to irrigate potato crops were leased to fishermen. "In some countries like Belarus there is a lot of rainfall, which drastically reduces production costs. We killed the potato production industry", said Ion Armanu.
Alexandru Dubalari, adviser to the minister of agriculture, said that the laws regulating potato production are not enforced. "We must not allow overcharging. We need to identify why the legislation is not applied", said Alexandru Dubalari.
The meeting was organized in order to identify solutions to avoid a rise in potato prices similar to the one in 2018 and to identify the reasons why domestic producers are unable to cover domestic consumption.
