The Government will find additional financial resources for increasing the agriculture subsidization fund. Such a commitment was made following a meeting of Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici and representatives of farmers on March 26, IPN reports.

The farmers demand that the agriculture subsidization fund should be raised to 1 billion lei. The 2015 draft budget law provides that the fund this year will be 610 million lei, over 200 million lei of which represents the overdue payments for last year.

According to the Government’s press service, the farmers asked that the fund should be augmented by allocating the first tranche of 350 million lei within the EU-funded ENPARD Moldova Program “Support to Agriculture and Rural Development”. They also demand reducing the tax of 20% put on products from the animal-breeding sector.

At the end of the meeting, the Premier said that in order to improve the state of affairs in agriculture, working groups will be set up to adjust the legislation in the field to the European standards. Chiril Gaburici referred especially to the package of laws concerning the guaranteed loans in agriculture and the Law on the Subsidization of Agriculture.

Attending the meeting, Minister of Finance Anatol Arapu said the first tranche within the ENPARD Moldova Program could be disbursed next year.

Today, March 27, the National Farmers Federation of Moldova, the National Union of Agricultural Producers Associations “UniAgroProtect”, the National Federation of Agricultural Producers “AGROinform” and the Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters “MoldovaFruct” intend to mount protests all over the country.