The lack of rapid support measures from the Government to save the agricultural sector and adjust it to the new weather conditions will result in the bankruptcy of thousands of farmers, and the adverse effects will be not only economic, but primarily social and political, the Farmers’ Force association warned following a meeting with the relevant parliamentary commission, IPN reports.
The farmers said that the social effects of the Government’s non-intervention result in further impoverishment of the inhabitants of rural areas or the extension of migration abroad in search of new sources of income. The political effects will materialize by endangering the European path and the referendum on joining the European Union, while the social sections affected by the disaster in agriculture will most likely show electoral passivity, according to an appeal issued by the association.
Moldova’s annual agricultural production is 35-40 billion lei, which generates around 4 billion lei in revenues in the National Public Budget. The exports of agricultural products and food products account for 40-45% of Moldova’s total exports and amount to US$1.0-1.2 billion annually, says the Farmers’ Force association, which advocates the introduction of a set of measures to save the agricultural sector.
The association urges to declare a state of emergency in agriculture and to institute a moratorium on the calculation of penalties and interest for late payments, after which the situation in the sector should be stabilized through short and long-term financial interventions. The recently created special parliamentary commission should come up with legislative measures to overcome the crisis in agriculture as soon as possible. The procrastination of the process will have irreversible effects on the country, warns the Farmers’ Force.
