Moldova to be safe with food: Agriculture Minister

Representatives of the Agriculture and Food Ministry are confident Moldova's food safety will be OK, Info-Prim Neo reports. Agriculture Minister Anatolie Gorodenco, told a news conference on August 7 that this year there would be a huge harvest of cereals, which would insure the food needs of the country. This year, they are going to harvest 1.3 million tonnes of wheat, 400,000 tonnes of which is food wheat. In order to insure the food safety of Moldova, 345,000 tonnes of food wheat are necessary, Anatolie Gorodenco said. He set as a comparison the fact that, in 2007, they produced 425,000 tonnes of wheat, 210,000 tonnes being usable to bake bread from. According to the Ministry's representatives, everything possible is done to insure the country with meat. Up to now, Moldova produces some 70% of its meat needs. The authorities hope that, till the end of 2008, the number of pigs will rise to 450,000 and the number of birds -- to 22 million. Starting from 2008, the country is going to produce enough fruit and vegetables of its own, the minister believes, although now 80 % of tomatoes and cucumbers are imported. He thinks there will be no problems in supplying the people with vegetal oil. The sunflower plantations spread over 235,000 ha this year. If the weather is OK, they plan to harvest at least 310,00 tonnes of oil seeds, twice more than last year, as Moldova needs 50,000 tonnes of sunflower seeds in this respect.