Moldovan agricultural producers demand from the Government and the Parliament to introduce amendments to the Law on Petroleum Products Market and to raise the branch subsidizing fund for 200 million lei till the end of 2014.

 

Alexandru Slusari, Deputy Chairman of the National Union of Agricultural Producers' Associations UniAgroProtect said on the Tuesday press conference at Infotag that on May 28 protest, farmers have put forward a set of requirements, the implementation of which would improve the situation in agriculture.

 

“We have agreed with the authorities that during a month our demands will be fulfilled, but in reality they only made adjustments to the Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development 2020, where the agricultural sector has been named as a national priority. No other point has seen the progress. In recent days, we have had meetings with the Democratic and Liberal Democratic Parties representatives, who agreed upon the necessity of changing things in the agricultural sector, however no actions were taken in this regard”, mentioned Slusari.

 

Taking into account that there are three days till the end of spring-summer Parliament session, Slusari has called deputies to urgently adopt amendments to the Law on Petroleum Products Market, in order that farmers to be able to import the fuel for agricultural necessities by themselves. According to him, it would allow reducing by 30% costs for petroleum products.

 

“Amendments to this law have been prepared two years ago, but have stayed on the State Chancellery shelves. I do not understand why these adjustments have not been introduced; I guess there was no political will for this. They have proposed us to wait till autumn, but in autumn the situation may become even more uncertain”, believes he.

 

As for the Subsidy Fund replenishment to 700 million lei, the UniAgroProtect Head mentioned that its raising by 64 million lei, proposed by the authorities, will not solve the current difficult situation in agriculture.

 

“By now, farmers have already demanded 530 million lei subsidies, and the very process is going to last three months more. It is obvious that we are on the verge that Russia will impose embargo on fruit import to its market, which will have disastrous consequences for many farmers. Thus, we propose increasing the Fund at least by 200 million lei. We also expect to receive 6 million euros within the ENPARD Program for Moldovan agricultural producers”, said Slusari.

 

Executive Director of the National Farmers’ Association Vasile Mirzenco appealed to the authorities, urging them to contribute to the country’s European integration not just in words, but in practice.

 

Moldova-Fruct Association Director Iurie Fala said that without state support, farmers have no chance to approach the European quality standards.

 

Farmers say that if authorities do not respond at their demands again, the reaction will be tough. Agrarians do not exclude conducting new protest actions.