Farmers in southern Moldova postponed their protest with a hundred participants and agricultural machinery until Tuesday morning. The event was put off due to the heavy rain and the need to help owners of the land flooded in recent days, Gheorghe Jurcanu, a representative of the Farmers’ Force Association, has told IPN.
Farmers have a series of grievances that made them to take to the streets. Farmers insist on declaring a state of emergency in agriculture and ask for possibilities of raising loans with interest rates of 2-3%, repayable in up to 15 years.
The farmers are against the suspension of payment obligations to creditors for a period of only six months, as provided for in a recently adopted draft law. Gheorghe Jurcanu gave the example of Romania, where such obligations were postponed until the end of 2025, and executions were stopped. Such a provision is also necessary in the case of Moldovan farmers, said the representative of the Farmers’ Force.
At the same time, the farmers consider the limits indicated in the conditions for granting aid from the Government’s Intervention Fund are exaggerated. Of the 100 million lei allocated, only those whose corn fields were affected by drought in a proportion of at least 60% and whose wheat fields were affected in a proportion of at least 70% can benefit from payments. According to Gheorghe Jurcanu, these ceilings are too high.
