The implementation of the conception concerning the agriculture subsidization system for 2008 – 2015, which was worked out and promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry in concert with associations of producers and other civil society organizations, enabled to think up a common agriculture subsidization system, says the study “Subsidization of agriculture in the Republic of Moldova – reforms and failures” that was presented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”, IPN reports.
Study authors Viorel Chivriga and Diana Enachi mentioned also other results in the implementation of the conception, including the setting of priority directions and sectors of agriculture that benefit from financial support from the state, determination of the mandatory criteria when setting the eligibility criteria for the recipients of subsidies and creation of the institutional system for managing the financial resources intended for subsidization.
However, according to Viorel Chivriga, in the period subsidies were provided only for measures of the priority direction “Modernization of the agricultural sector”, namely for the creation of units for processing agricultural production, equipment with agricultural machinery, creation of infrastructure for collecting agricultural products, setting up of multiannual plantations. No subsides were offered for the second priority direction – “Modern agricultural activities in the vegetal sector”.
Among the subsidization measures that ended with the best results is the subsidization of investments for producing fruit and vegetables on protected land. “In 2015, there were built 141 hothouses, 21 solariums and seven tunnels. In 2014, the figures were even higher. There are practically no settlements without hothouses, tunnels and solariums,” said the expert.
The study also reveals a series of problems that continue to mark the subsidization of agriculture, including subsidization debts, the great difference between the sums accepted for subsidization and the paid ones and the much lower size of subsidies than in the EU.
The chairman of the National Farmers Federation of Moldova Valeriu Cosarciuc said the government should analyze the possibility of introducing direct payments from 2017, not from 2020. “Only when the small farmers also benefit from support from the state, will we be able to speak about mass subsidization in agriculture,” he stated.
The participants in the discussions said the draft law on subsidization is a necessary document, but this should be consulted with all the interested sides before being approved.
The 2016 agriculture subsidization fund totals 900 million lei, 387,600 lei is provided by the European Commission’s ENPARD Program.
