Economics

​USAID TO PROVIDE US$21 MILLION FOR DEVELOPING EFFICIENT AGRICULTURE IN MOLDOVA

23 february, 2017

The United States Agency for International Development will allocate US$21 million for developing agricultural sector in Moldova within a five-year project “High Value Agriculture Activity” (HVAA).

At the Wednesday’s conference on the occasion of project launching, its head Cynthia Steen said that the main goals are: expanding trade and strengthening the market linkages; improving productivity; building post-harvest infrastructure and developing private sector capacity to meet international quality standards.

“Also, efforts will be directed to producing goods with high added value on four value chains: apples, table grapes, stone fruit and vegetables, produced in greenhouses. Later, this list will be replenished with honey, berries and oil-bearing crops. In case the program succeeds, it is planned to increase production volumes in these fields by 30%, to raise agricultural product sales on external and domestic markets by US$84 million, as well as to create 1700 new jobs”, she said.

Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip said that in Moldova the using of innovation technologies and meeting high standards in food safety in such a traditional branch as agriculture is a burning issue.

“We really need to make all efforts to make the Moldovan market competitive, while citizens’ quality of life – deserving”, he said.

“This is possible only with active support from our western partners. We have a common system of values, one should not speculate in this concern. Only in 2016, the USA provided to Moldova financial assistance worth US$45 million. Our cooperation and active work allows moving from crisis to development and prosperity”, he said.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USA to Moldova James D. Pettit said that for Moldova agriculture is one of the main sectors of economy. Almost 15% of GDP accounts for agricultural production, one-fourth of country population are engaged in this area. This program allows transforming country’s agricultural complex into the main instrument for economic development.

“The US is Moldova’s many-year development partner. After introducing Russia’s ban on Moldovan goods in 2014, which exerted a destroying influence on republic’s economy, we keep strengthening support to Moldova in this field. We already have positive results: for example, grape exports to the EU grew to 10 thousand tons in 2016 from 1 thousand. The total exported volume of agricultural production with high added value grew by 9% since 2015 till 2016. We will continue developing production goods with high added value, Moldovan farmers and agrarians are ready to make steps towards us”, he said.

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