The producer groups can be set up by at least five private individuals or legal entities that carry out entrepreneurial activities, do not have more than 20% of the votes in the general assembly and sell 50% of the products through the agency of the group in the first year of work, 60% in the second year and 75% in the third and next years, IPN reports, quoting the bill on producer groups and associations that is to be examined and approved by the Government.
Currently, the agricultural sector in Moldova has limited production and production planning capacities. The cases when the farmers provide products in excess or not enough to meet the demand are not excluded. The massive parceling out in agriculture is another problem. The number of agricultural producers that own small plots is high and the absence of efficient cooperation between them leads to the instability of prices and high production costs.
The creation of producer groups will enable to increase the efficiently of the activity, to concentrate the offer and to organize the sale of agricultural products. An advantage is that the producers will sell the products themselves and will not need the services of intermediaries.
In order to stimulate the creation of such groups, the state will provide financial support during five years. The subsidies will be distributed as follows: 5% of the turnover in the first year, 4% in the second year, 3% in the third year, 2% in the fourth year, and 1% in the fifth year of work. Within the World Bank-funded Competitive Agriculture Project, about US$11 million will be provided to producer groups starting with 2013 for creating processing, storage and sale infrastructure.
