Alexandru Bădărău
The MAIA Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry has not released any definite indicators on the potential of second-group field production in Moldova in 2025 to the country’s information space. The Association of grain exporters Agrocereale, based on fragmentary information from district departments of agriculture and data on sale of seeds by traders, estimated that sunflower sowing amounted to at least 420 thousand hectares, corn – very approximately 280 thousand hectares. This is the end of it.
However, even this is not too important, given the impact of the summer drought on the state of spring crop fields. In the case of sunflower not all tragic, abundant rains on July 18-19 somewhat corrected the deplorable situation. As a result, as optimistic agronomists believe, on average 1.5-1.9 tons/ha of sunflower will be harvested by Moldovan farmers. Some of them – more.
Everything is much sadder with corn. Since corn is not a plastic crop, with a rather low potential of recovery after a powerful stress. If there is no precipitation in critical phases of vegetation, then later, when (and if) they do fall, they will not correct the overall negative picture. There will be a stalk, but there will be no cobs. Or they will be poorly formed, empty. That is, the only thing that experts can say at the moment is that the corn harvest will be much lower than the average.
And the regions of RM, where the situation with the production of field crops of the second group can be confidently called catastrophic, have already been identified. These are the districts of the southern zone – Stefan Voda, Causeni and some others. The sunflower and corn harvests there are so bad that the district councils are trying to appeal to the central authorities of the country with a request to introduce a local emergency regime.
Last week, according to a ministerial press release, MAIA State Secretary Vasili Charban paid a working visit to Stefan Wode district. He met with representatives of the local administration and agricultural producers. They discussed the degree of realization of the AGGRI project, particularly its component of rehabilitation and expansion of irrigation systems. Not a word in the release about the current drought, its impact on the rural economy and urgent “mitigation” measures.
A counterpoint to these developments was the call recently made by the Forta Fermierilor Association to like-minded and fellow farmers to help farmers in the affected areas – whoever they can. As the chairman of the FF, Alexandru Bădărău, noted in a conversation with the correspondent of LP, two regional aid collection points have been created, they have already received more than 200 tons of seeds of field crops. The seeds will be distributed among the farmers-members of the association in the affected areas, in proportion to their land holdings.
This is such a “team building”. And it is right. In a situation when the vertical of power is preoccupied with its own future, horizontal ties at the base of the social pyramid are the only chance to save society as such.
