General agricultural census launched

All the districts of the country on March 15 initiated the general agricultural census that will last by April 15, Info-Prim Neo reports. During the launch of the census, Lucia Spoiala, director general of the National Bureau of Statistics, said this is an activity of national interest that is aimed at determining the country’s agricultural potential so as to ensure the development of agriculture and the prosperity of the state. “We thus must identify the real capacities and problems of the agricultural producers,” Lucia Spoiala said. The Bureau’s deputy director general Oleg Cara called on the people to take an active part in the census and provide accurate information about their possessions. He said that in accordance with the law on official statistics, the collected data represents confidential information that can be used only for statistical purposes. Eugenia Dumbraveanu, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, said the Ministry supported the idea of carrying out the general agricultural census so as to create a database that could be used to formulate new policies in agriculture and assess the existing ones. Agriculture is a vital sector for Moldova and an agricultural census is necessary as it will represent a basis for implementing other projects, said adviser of the Romanian Embassy in Moldova Ionel Dumitras. “This census will be useful for entrepreneurs, the state and especially the citizens,” he stated. There were involved over 5,000 census takers. A sum of 67 million lei was earmarked for carrying out the census. 1 million euros was allocated from the state budget. The Government of Sweden will provide a grant of 20.4 million Swedish kronor, which will cover over 50% of the operational costs. The European Union will contribute about 1 million euros, while the Government of Romania will offer technical assistance to the value of about 500,000 euros.