Agriculture Ministry aims to rehabilitate seed producers

Moldova had in the past successful seed producing institutions, but they disappeared and the Moldovan farmers now have to import seeds from abroad so as to sow the land. Not everything is yet lost, considers Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov. In order to do business in the field, the national producers must learn not only how to produce seeds, but also how to sell them, said the official, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to Vasile Bumacov, Moldova has been rather successful in the area of seed production, but many specialized institutions disappeared, including because they didn’t know how to initiate public-private partnerships. “The national producers of corn seeds, vegetable and grain seeds were removed from the market. We are considering reforming these institutions and creating public-private partnerships and institutions to restore the production of these seeds that are of a high value. The reform is stagnant because we are in a blockage. A large part of these institutions were financed by the Academy of Sciences of Moldova. The founder was the Ministry of Agriculture, which had no influence on them and thus the situation worsened,” said Vasile Bumacov. According to the General Inspectorate for Phytosanitary Supervision and Seed Control, the vegetable plants are now 61.7% provided with seeds, the legumes – 65.2%, while the potatoes for reproduction – 23.7%. The head of the Inspectorate’s Seed Control Division Dumitru Rusu said that 10 economic entities have been authorized to import vegetable seeds with a view to diminishing the shortage. The shortage of sugar beet and spring rape is covered from the imports of sugar factories and companies authorized to sell seeds.