Government's solution for farmers: Emergency agricultural credit
Negotiations between farmers and government representatives continue. After almost two hours of tough discussions, the parties did not reach an agreement. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, Vladimir Bolea, announced urgent crediting in agriculture, guaranteed by the state. From March 1, farmers can access loans of up to 500 thousand lei. Farmers, for their part, argue that this is a temporary solution and will not solve the problem.
Farmers came to the Government in the morning to continue discussions with Prime Minister Dorin Recean and the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, Vladimir Bolea. The negotiations with the authorities are taking place against the backdrop of farmers' protests across the country.
Dorin Recean, Prime Minister: "Our approach will always be based on the principle of providing targeted aid to businesses that need it. The Republic of Moldova has the financial constraints, we give priority to agriculture and, respectively, we make these investments, we give priority to grain producers, we give aid to compensate for losses. When you started protesting, the measures to support your colleagues were already announced, aid of 50 million for the 400 producers, this effort will continue".
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, Vladimir Bolea said that small and micro grain producers will be able to request loans from the banks of the Republic of Moldova "A first measure is the allocation of 50 million lei, which are already in the process of implementation and which will benefit farmers who had major losses in the summer of 2023. Another welcome measure for farmers is the agricultural credit of 500 thousand lei, money that can be accessed with a guarantee from the state, because we are talking about farmers who cannot put pledge to the banks, now we are going to discuss the possibilities for the bigger farmers, we need to identify for each effective measures. For each category of farmers, the amounts are different", declared Vladimir Bolea.
Also, the minister said that changes will be made to the legislative acts so that "those who have problems with the banks can receive the money from the state aid and that this money is not executed by the banks".
"We have to change the acts so that all support and state aid measures aimed at the development of agriculture cannot be implemented. If we give the farmers money to start the works, they must keep its destination", emphasized the Minister of Agriculture.
