Category Archives: On Agriculture and Food

Moldova

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Åsa Giertz under On Agriculture and Food

A Good Start of the Week

It is only Wednesday and the week has already been very interesting and productive. Monday, we officially launched the World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development here in the office. (For you who are not in the development sector, the WDR is an annual report that brings up different themes that are important for development. Previous years have shed lights on topics such as youth, the role of the private sector, urbanization, etc.) After a few months of begging, the main author Mr. Derek Byerlee gave in and decided to come and present the report here in Moldova as one of his last presentations before he retires. Our agricultural sector coordinator in DC took this opportunity to make his first visit to Moldova. 

The turnout to the event was great and we were especially pleased that the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, Mr. Gorodenco, and his Deputy Minister, Mr. Perju, came to the event. In addition to them, there were also representatives from other ministries, from the civil society, the private sector, and other donors. The presentation was very interesting and there were some good comments made afterwards. Above all, I hope that the participants got something out of the event and that it will add some new perspectives to the agricultural agenda here in Moldova.

Yesterday, our two visitors and I went out in the country side to meet farmers and see some of the activities that are going on here through various initiatives. It was a beautiful day – sunny and warm (yes, hopefully no more hail storms this year!). The trip had been arranged by a project implementation organization together with the main provider of extension services here in Moldova (ACSA). In addition to a number of farmers, we also met few ACSA consultants that work with advising farmers in production techniques and marketing. I have to admit that I learn quite a lot about production methods during these trips.

One of the best things about my job is all the interesting people I get to meet. This time, I was particularly impressed by two former migrants who had decided to come back and invest their hard-earned money from abroad in agro-businesses. One of them had been working in the construction industry in Ireland for four years together with his sons. The sons were still there for yet another year, while he had gone back to Moldova and bought some land and a tractor and started a business. One of his main crop was melons and he had introduced some new sawing techniques that other farmers in the village now used. His sons would join him in the fall.

The other farmer can’t have been more than 25 years old but had already lived in Greece for seven years, also he working in the construction industry. He had taken his money and used it together with a matching grant from the World Bank financed project to invest in several hundred sheep for cheese production. His facilities were extremely simple, with no electricity and without any equipment, and the walls and roof barely providing shelter in rainy weather, but he was now in the process of applying for new credit from another project to purchase process equipment for packaging. He promised dill cheese next time we came as that was his new business idea. I asked him why he decided to come back to Moldova after so long time in Greece, and he answered that though he loved Greece and life there in many ways had been easier, he always felt like a foreigner in the eyes of the locals. He though that it would never fully be his home and so he decided to go back to Moldova to life there another chance. It is sad that we in the EU are not better at making newcomers feel at home in the way that people here have made me feel at home here (not the least because we ourselves are the ones who will loose on it), but I am glad for Moldova that such ambitious people decide to come back and invest in the country. I am sure he will succeed!

Chisinau 3

Posted on August 12, 2007 by Åsa Giertz under On Agriculture and Food

More Trials for a Country Deserving Better

I saw it as soon as my flight started descending over Chisinau. The yellow and brown fields that covered the landscape. I had been warned through the correspondence between my office and Washington that I had read when occasionally glancing through my e-mails during my vacation. The information there had indicated that Moldova was experience the worst drought since 1946. Actually, the signs were here already when I left in mid July. We had hardly had any rain or snow since I arrived here in October, and the first real rainfalls that finally came in April/May passed quickly and generally did not last for more than an hour. During the weeks that I was away, temperatures rose to around 40 °C.

Now when much has been harvested, the effects are evident. Many farmers did not even get half the yield they normally produce. Not only does this affect income as well as food supply for households relying on subsistence farming this year, but seeds reserves are also exhausted, which threatens next years’ production. The situation is a little better in the northern part of the country than in the central and southern regions, but for Moldova as a whole, where 60 % of the population is still heavily depending on agriculture, this is disastrous.

Thursday, my office visited a few villages in the south, and I saw the impact of the drought at close. It was awful! The plants looked weird, almost unnatural. The sunflowers and maize plants are only half the size they are supposed to be, not even reaching my waste. It is like stepping into Lilliput Land. Many of the plants are completely dry – dead – and the ones that have survived are not bearing any fruit. The maize plants are without ears/corn and the sunflowers almost without seeds. In some places, the plants seem to have been scattered out randomly instead of growing in straight, dense rows across the fields. Those were the plants that came up.

Livestock is also affected. Animals have either died from starvation or are being slaughtered with the meat sold at low prices. With increasing fodder prices, dairy producers can no longer afford to keep their animals. The little money that the small-scale farmers had managed to invest in a few animals or a small plantation is disappearing right in front of their eyes. And with it the hope that the next years will be a little bit better for them and their families. Life has been hard for a long time here in Moldova and it is now slowly changing for the better only because of the hard work of people here. It is therefore extra sad to see this happening to the country. The Moldovans are strong and I know they will come out of this. They have done so before, and not thanks to anyone else but themselves. I just hope that this time not more people will have to leave the country in order to survive. I also hope that we will be able to assist them (as the Government has asked us for) in doing something about this situation, and easing their burden somewhat.

It is Sunday and I am now on my way to my office for the second time this weekend. The drought will be my main focus for the next months, and there is a lot to do.