Agriculture census starts in Moldova March 15

The first General Census of Agriculture (GCA) in Moldova will be held in the period from March 15 to April 15 and will cover all the agricultural entities, including landowners, land users, tenants, animal breeders, large and small-scale farms, peasant households etc. “We intend to sort things out and get a clear picture of what happened in Moldova in the period of transition in the agriculture sector, to create a new ample database based on improved research and establish new programs for agriculture development”, said Vasile Pentelei, department head of the National Statistics Bureau, at a press conference. Information will be collected based on two forms: 1-GCA for corporate entities and 2-GCA for small-scale entities. “The information will be centralized to create comprehensive statistics to be shown to potential investors. People shouldn't be afraid that the data will be made public”, said Mihai Suvac, department head at the Ministry of of Agriculture and Food Industry. The operational budget of the GCA is 67 million lei, contributed by the Swedish Government, the European Union and the Moldovan Government. Technical assistance to the GCA will be provided by the Romanian Government, the U.S. Government and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The first results of the census will be published in July.