The provision of 1 leu per kilogram to farmers as direct compensation for production costs for the created supplies would be a sufficient minimum for recovering the losses the agricultural year 2021-2022. The proposal was formulated by the leader of the Association of Experts LEC-ECON Consulting Octavian Calmîc, ex-minister of economy.
In a news conference hosted by IPN, Octavian Calmîc said that the local public authorities possess information about the supplies per company, region, locality. An efficient, transparent mechanism can be created to provide direct financial support to those who need it. Given that the harvesting of the grain crops is to start and that the negative effects that caused increased costs persist, the association of experts suggests paying a minimum of 1 leu per kilogram of grain of the new harvest and keeping the financial compensation per hectare of land sowed with grain.
According to Octavian Calmîc, much larger and costly actions need to be taken to ensure the harvest of 2024, such as the partial or full compensation of the costs of fertilizers or herbicides used in farming. At the current stage, the fuel needed to prepare the land for autumn sowing should be subsidized. About 11 liters of diesel fuel are needed per hectare. Given that the fuel prices rose in 2022 and remained at a high level in 2023, the diesel fuel should be partially or fully subsidized.
It is proposed a mechanism for subsidizing the keeping of fruit and vegetables in cold storage facilities. It was established that there are large storage capacities to satisfy farmers’ needs, but the costs are high and the farmers from vulnerable regions cannot cover them.
Octavian Calmîc noted that in 2022, the agricultural sector was affected by a number of factors. Firstly, the price of diesel fuel used in farming rose considerably. The prices of energy, fertilizers and pesticides also grew as did the prices of agricultural machinery and spare parts. The relationship with the banking sector had a considerable impact on the formation of prices in agriculture. The costs of the financial resources attracted into agriculture grew by up to 20%.
Until 2022, Moldova had its own niche for selling grain. Now this is used by the grain from Ukraine, which costs less, and the Moldovan farmers lost this market. On the other hand, the traders and carriers, including the national ones, choose to transport and sell products from Ukraine as they are more motivated to work this way. A situation was created when the production costs for the first group of grain crops are 4.5 lei per kg, while the purchase prices are 3 lei.
In such conditions, the Moldovan products cannot compete on third markets. Octavian Calmîc said that actions with immediate-, medium- and long-term effects need to be taken so as to enable the Moldovan agricultural sector to survive.
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