The third call of the program of post-investment grants “Sustainable Land Management” of the World Bank-funded Moldova Agriculture Competitiveness Project (Mac-P) has been launched. The producers who invested starting with November 1, 2014 can apply for post-investment grants until December 31, 2015, IPN reports.
Acting minister of agriculture Ion Sula told a news conference that the project aims to motivate the agricultural producers to balance their businesses and to mainstream sustainable land management practices. “Our goal is to offer the future generations a fertile soil and a healthy environment,” he stated.
The maximum ceiling of grant funding within this call was established at US$20,000 per beneficiary, but the grant cannot exceed 50% of the made investment. The grants are intended for environment-friendly activities and technology, for planting trees, etc. As many as 129 agricultural producers submitted applications last year. Of these, 91 benefitted from grant funding of 14 million lei.
Acting deputy minister of the environment Lazar Chirica said that the soil in Moldova has been seriously degraded over the last 20 years. More than 700,000 hectares of farmland are affected by erosion. The given project envisions the restoration of over 2,000 hectares of wooded land for reducing erosion. The third call for grants is different from the first two because it supports the purchase of soil conservation equipment and the implementation of new technology for cultivating land without affecting it further. “We want to teach the farmers and to show the impact on the environment and ecosystems,” stated the official.
Petru Maleru, director of the Agency for Intervention and Payments in Agriculture, said the deadline for submissions is this yearend, but an examination commission will be convened every time there are collected ten files. All the agricultural producers can file applications, expect for those from Chisinau and Balti. These must have worked for at least three years and must have no debts to the national public budget.
