The officials who managed the Ministry of Agriculture and Regional Development since 2014 until present didn’t take measures that could be assessed according to performance indicators regarding enhancement of soil fertility, said the acting director of the Institute of Pedology, Agro-chemistry and Soil Protection “N. Dimo” Iurie Moșoi, who noted that regression in the management of soil resources has been witnessed during the past few years.
In a news conference at IPN, Iurie Moșoi said it is hard to identify real soil improvements, which would stop soil erosion, would increase fertility and, respectively, would conserve soil resources, in the action plans concerning the conservation and enhancement of soil fertility. Since 1991, a Land Improvements Agency has been needed to manage the hydro-amelioration systems, to coordinate the state programs on high-value agriculture and competitive agriculture.
Iurie Moșoi noted that a Government decision defines the duties of all the sides involved in the implementation of the soil fertility conservation and enhancement program. However, the Court of Auditors’ reports indicate no agricultural objective that could be classed as being aimed at improving soil fertility and conservation of soil resources.
According to Iurie Moșoi, the Institute of Pedology, Agro-chemistry and Soil Protection “N. Dimo” since 2017 has been in litigation with the Agency for Land Relations and Cadaster. The cases concerning two entrepreneurship contracts to the value of 300,000 lei, which were won in court, are still pending at the Appeals Court and the Supreme Court. Owing to the inconvenience caused by the Institute in time by being functional, when it last time asked for financing, the Ministry responded that it has no money allocated for the institutional maintenance of this.
The “cherry on the cake”, says Iurie Moșoi, was the contest to fill the post of director of the Institute of Pedology, Agro-chemistry and Soil Protection “N. Dimo” that was rigged in the ugliest way possible. Representatives of the Ministry changed the real score obtained by the participants so that the announced one was different from the accumulated one. After the interview, it wasn’t clear who the commission’s chairman was, who the secretary was, who the commission members were and there were also other inconsistencies.
Gheorghe Jigău, president of the National Soil Science Society, said the money allocated from the budget is not enough to satisfy the real needs. When soil improvement works are indeed needed, insufficient resources are allocated at a time when for other projects the sums are exaggerated. A clear concept concerning sustainable management can help remove these shortcomings. A well-defined action plan is needed in this regard.
