Gagauzia to set up Regional Grain Reserve

The GTAU (Gagauzia Territorial-Administrative Unit) Committee for Political Stability, Economic and Social Security decided to set up in the region a local autonomous Grain Reserve. The decision was taken in order to ensure the governmental institutions and the population of the region with necessary amounts of wheat and bread. Under this decision, all the local authorities of town halls shall form and hold their own grain reserves depending on the needs of the local population. The total volume of the Reserve for GTAU will be slightly above 2,000 tonnes. The members of the Committee suggested Gagauzia Governor Mihail Formuzal to ask Russia, Turkey and the international community for help with the grain reserve of the region. PM Vasile Tarlev has recently said that the National Grain Reserve has to hold around 50,000 tonnes annually. Tarlev requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, as well the National Agency for Public Acquisitions, to renew the national reserve by at least 30,000 tonnes of wheat annually. Experts said that in 2007 at least 22% of the sown fields were damaged by drought. Although it was planned a 1.1 mln tonnes harvest, recent estimations brought the forecasts down to about 750,000 tonnes. In 2006, the harvest of wheat in Moldova was 677,000 tonnes, with the internal demand being estimated at almost 400,000 tonnes annually.