The cultivation, processing and export of industrial hemp could be allowed in the Republic of Moldova. A bill to this effect is being drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry. Minister Vladimir Bolea said that in European countries, the cultivation of industrial hemp is permitted and the farmers in Moldova also want to grow hemp as it is a drought-resistant plant.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry noted that the farmers in the Republic of Moldova will soon be able to grow industrial hemp. Vladimir Bolea assures that this plant is absolutely harmless and cannot be associated with drugs.

“Industrial hemp is allowed throughout Europe. It is a plant like wheat, corn, and other agricultural crops. Textiles, oils are made from its seeds. Even the anti-drug police in Romania said: it’s an agricultural technical crop and that’s all! It must be treated like this, not otherwise. For this reason, the fears that one can do with it I don’t know what are baseless. The plant is totally different. We expect that this decision will be passed by the Cabinet by the end of June or July,” Vladimir Bolea stated in the program “The Shadow Cabinet” on JurnalTV.

The minister noted that Romania’s experience will be analyzed in order to finalize the bill on industrial hemp cultivation. Industrial hemp is a crop with untapped potential in the Republic of Moldova.

“We have a council working under the Ministry of Agriculture and farmers categorically ask for this crop because it is resistant to drought. To the next meeting of the Economic Council, we will invite the Romanian association of hemp producers to provide specific data. I mean, if you grow it for seeds, who do you sell these seeds to? What’s the price? What’s the average yield per hectare? What are the weather conditions? For example, if you want to grow hemp in Cahul, we need to analyze the Galati area, Vaslui. Let’s conduct a case study with more or less approximate data so that the farmer in the Republic of Moldova doesn’t take a gamble, but knows for sure what needs to be done. If €1,000 per hectare is earned in Galati, it means that the farmer in Cahul will also earn about €1,000 per hectare. The hemp bill is almost ready. We are going to receive the final opinion from the NAC,” said Vladimir Bolea.

Industrial hemp is grown in a number of European countries. The largest producer is France (over 70% of the European Union’s production), followed by the Netherlands (10%) and Austria (4%).