News
18.09.2009
Moldovan government considers situation in farming sector
The situation in the farming sector and the holding of seasonal works was discussed at a 15 September government meeting chaired by acting Prime Minister Vitalie Pirlog, the government's press service has said.
A report unveiled by acting Agriculture and Food Minister Anatolie Gorodenco showed that 1,190 million tons of first-group cereals and vegetables, as well as rape were harvested from an area of 550,000 ha, and the productivity was of 2.16 tons per hectare on the whole in Moldova. Thus, about 770,000 tons of wheat, 303,000 tons of barley, 21,000 tons of peas and 80,000 tons of rape were harvested. The minister said that according to preliminary assessments, food wheat will account for 45 per cent of the entire wheat harvest - a higher quality index against the 2008 one - which will allow fully meeting domestic needs of bread products. Also, 285,000 tons of fodder were harvested to ensure the security in this sector and 160,000 tons were directed for export, Anatolie Gorodenco said.
The deputy director-general of the Moldova-Vin Agricultural and Industrial Agency, Nicolae Taran, said that a good harvest of grapes - about 350,000 tons - is expected in 2009 - by 100,000 tons more against 2008. Taran emphasized the high quality of the grapes. He also said that 8,000 hectares of vineyard have been harvested so far, with 38,000 tons of grapes collected, of which 16,000 tons - for procession. Taran said that, presently, there are no restrictions on the export of technical grapes to Ukraine, with advantageous conditions having been created for the export of technical grapes to this country. In 2009, 120 wine-making enterprises are to process 240,000 tons of grapes. At the same time, about 17 million dekalitres of wines worth about 300 million dollars accumulated in 2006-2009 are in stocks, given difficulties to export wines in bulk.
Deputy Economics and Trade Minister Sergiu Sainciuc presented data on goods eligible for export in line with the provisions of the regulation of the European Union's Council on the introduction of autonomous trade preferences for Moldova. Thus, 2,820 export authorizations were issued for the goods included in the list of preferences. As many as 723 authorizations were issued for the export of wines, and the quota offered by the EU for this group of products was used at 99.98 per cent. The quota given for the export of sugar was turned to account at 88.77 per cent, amounting to 15,977.8 tons. As many as 362 authorizations were released for the export of barley, with more than 50 per cent of the quota reserved for this group of goods being used. The export quota for maize was fulfilled at 98.5 per cent. Sainciuc specified that the data recorded by the EU's relevant authorities show that the quota offered for wheat was used at 100 per cent, amounting to 30,000 tons.
Vitalie Pirlog asked decision-makers to mobilize the efforts of all the relevant authorities so as to promptly identify efficient measures to settle the problems in the agro-industrial sector, ensure the harvest in the best conditions, including by applying all the available administrative and fiscal measures, in order to support the agricultural producers and the export of wine and farming production.
MOLDPRES
