UN distributes relief assistance worth $1.5m to drought-hit farmers

Over 20,000 families of farmers in Moldova, whose farms have been affected by this year’s drought, received assistance totalling more than $1.5 million from the United Nations. Starting December, other 15,000 underprivileged families will receive fodder as part of the project “Relief and Technical Assistance Response to the Drought in Moldova”. During a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, Minister Anatol Gorodenco said that the aid packages consisting of grain seed, fertilisers and fuel, which were distributed to the recipients, will enable them to plant roughly 10,250 ha under autumn wheat. If the weather is favourable, the sown land will yield 30,000 tonnes of wheat. Gheorghe Cainareanu, representative for the National Agency for Rural Development ACSA, said that by the end of this week most of the farmers from the 494 selected villages will finish sowing autumn wheat. According to the UNDP Moldova Representative Ignacio Artaza, other 15,000 vulnerable families affected by drought will be selected in the following weeks, including from the left bank of the Nistru River. These families will also receive fodder. Local commissions will take into account the impact of the drought, social conditions and the head of cattle owned by the family. Concurrently, fodder will be purchased so that it reaches the recipients by December. The Project “Relief and Technical Assistance Response to the Drought in Moldova” will be carried out through a period of six months and aims at addressing the emergency needs created by the drought which affected the country this year. The cost of the project amounts to a total of $6 million. The project is managed by the United Nations Development Programme in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the UN Population Fund, the United Nations Children Fund, other UN agencies and the Government of Moldova as well as NGOs and local public authorities which are implementing partners of the project.