The second phase of the Moldova Agriculture Competitiveness Project was launched on October 19 as part of the exhibitions “Moldagroteh” and “Farmer” that were opened at the Exhibitions Center “Moldexpo”. Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Eduard Grama said the Agriculture Competitiveness Project is one of the largest by its value, IPN reports.
Director general of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture Nicolae Ciubuc said financing of US$10 million will be provided for implementing the second phase of the project. By the grants offered to farmers, the stimulation of investments in post-harvesting infrastructure in horticulture will be continued. The second phase of the project will cover two new subsectors – collection and processing of honey and milk.
The grants will represent at most 50% of the value of the eligible investment, but not more than US$350,000 per group of producers. The grants will be provided in advance, which is before the investment is made. But the money will be disbursed in tranches, depending on the contribution made by the group of producers.
The grants are intended for groups of producers that consist of at least five members that worked in a particular agricultural subsector for not less than three years and do not have debts to the state budget.
The program of investment grants “Increasing productivity by sustainable land management” was also launched today. This provides non-reimbursable post-investment financial support to agricultural producers that implemented sustainable land management technologies. One grant will not exceed US$20,000.
The second phase of the project will be implemented until June 20, 2019.
Liviu Gumovski, of the World Bank Projects Implementation and Monitoring Unit, said grants to the value of US$7.5 million have been disbursed to 30 groups of producers since the launch of the project. The co-financing of the groups of producers was about US$8.6 million.
