In 2015, Alexandru Slusari, the president of the Farmers Union UniAgroProtect, would like to see a radical change of the Government's attitude towards agriculture. He told IPN that the situation in 2014 has showed how vulnerable the agriculture sector is.
“When you see a politically-motivated ban closing one market, while other markets are opening up very slowly, you can see all the flaws of our agriculture policy, since 2004 and up to now, in what concerns failure to modernize and in particular to improve post-harvesting infrastructure – refrigerators, sorting lines, packaging lines, and so on”, says the expert.
If we don't want to lose further farmers to migration, says Alexandru Slusari, the government must radically change its support policy in the agrifood sector. “I have many doubts about the quality of the future Government, but I do hope that the situation will improve and we'll get significant support compared to what we've got over the past decade”.
Slusari has noted that many farmers have a difficult time reorienting themselves to the EU markets, as many products don't meet the standards. So the expert believes that the DCFTA can be beneficial only if the sector gets a fast-track modernization, which is impossible without the government's support.
