Reforms in security and quality of agrifood products to be supported

The Competitive Agriculture Project will support the agenda of reforms in the area of security and quality of agrifood products. A decision to this effect was taken by the Government on February 22, Info-Prim Neo reports. The executive decided to initiate negotiations on the draft financing agreement between Moldova and the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) for implementing the Competitive Agriculture Project. Minister of Finance Veaceslav Negruta said the project will support the Government’s agenda of reforms in the field of security and quality of agrifood products and the efforts aimed at improving the market opportunities for farmers by making investments in modernizing the post-harvest infrastructure, creating association of producers and efficiently managing the plots. The project beneficiaries are the private sector, the public sector and the NGO sector. In the public sector, the activities will be focused on the improvement of the capacities of the key institutions. The cost of the project is US$28.4 million. Of this sum, US$18 million is the loan provided by the IDA, US$4.4 million is the grant offered by the Global Environment Facility, US$4 million is the grant of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, while US$2 million is the Government’s contribution. The IDA loan is repayable in 25 years, with a grace period of five years. The interest rate is 1.25%. The project will last for five years.