Sweden will provide a grant of US$2.89 million to Moldova to support the implementation of the Competitive Agriculture Project. The financing agreement was signed at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry on November 15, IPN reports.

The Competitive Agriculture Project’s goal is to strengthen the competitiveness of the agrifood sector of the country, to modernize the food safety management system and to facilitate the Moldovan producers’ access to the market. The Swedish grant will be used to create an information system that will enable to register the activities of the National Food Safety Agency. The second component of the project is designed to improve post-harvest infrastructure and to increase the organization level of producers.

“Within this project, the groups of producers will be able to obtain grants of up to US$350,000 to invest in the post-harvest infrastructure, to purchase packing equipment and for other needs,” Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Bumacov told a news conference.

As part of the third component of the project, the agricultural producers will be able to obtain grants for promoting durable agronomic practices, implementing soil conservation technology, planting trees to protect the soil. The grants will be of up to US$20,000.

“These activities will make the Moldovan products safe and attractive on the foreign market and on the home one too,” said Swedish Ambassador to Moldova Ingrid Tersman.

World Bank Country Director for Moldova Abdoulaye Seck said the economic model to which Moldova aspires is durable, based on the attraction of investments and the rise in exports.

The value of the project is about US$26 million. US$18 million represents a loan from the World Bank, US$4.6 million was offered by the Global Ecological Fund, while US$2.89 million is the grant of the Swedish Government. The project will be implemented by June 2017.