The Moldovan agricultural producers will be able to obtain investment grants for purchasing machinery and equipment for the post-harvest infrastructure in horticulture. The grants will represent 50% of the made investments, but will not exceed 350,000 per group of producers. The grants program is supported by the World Bank, IPN reports.

According to a communiqué from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, in a news conference held to present the program, director general of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture Petru Maleru said the program’s objective is to facilitate farmers’ access to markets by supporting the creation of groups of agricultural producers in horticulture, fostering investments in technology and equipment intended for the post-harvest infrastructure and, consequently, increasing the competitiveness of the Moldovan agricultural products.

The grants will be used to buy 25 types of machinery and equipment for washing fruit and vegetables, sorting, packing and labeling lines, cold-storage facilities, steam generators, etc.

The budget of the grants program is US$7 million. The National Food Safety Agency will receive assistance in adjusting the national sanitary and phytosanitary standards to the EU acquis. There will be created two food safety labs in Balti and Cahul and built and equipped four veterinary border inspection posts.

Within the second stage of the program, there will be set up groups of producers in horticulture, which will be able to provide larger production volumes and to thus negotiate much more advantageous contracts in the country and abroad.