It is highly likely that this is the official response from a government representative to a request from the Association of Sugar Beet Producers (APSZM) to clarify, by 6 November, the prospects for the payment of subsidies ‘per hectare of sugar beet’. These subsidies are provided for under the Strategic Programme for Agricultural Policy (PSPA), which Logos Press has previously reported on.
The problem lies in the fact that sugar beet in Moldova (as in all other sugar-beet-growing countries in Europe) is grown exclusively ‘to order’ – on the basis of annual contracts between farmers and processing enterprises. The contract signing period takes place almost simultaneously with the harvest and usually concludes in December.
Contracts often involve advance payments, including a ‘technical loan’ in the form of a package of production resources, which includes seeds (these are expensive and must be pre-ordered from seed companies). All this requires time and money. In this regard, ‘per hectare’ subsidies for land sown in the spring for the 2026 harvest, paid out in November–December of this year, would be most welcome – as a factor in business planning for Moldova’s sugar beet sector for 2027.
This year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, sugar beet plantings in Moldova totalled 7.8 thousand hectares (71.7 per cent of last year’s level). During meetings at the Ministry of Agriculture, the
APSZM Association presented different figures – 8.3 thousand hectares of beet for the 2026 harvest. In any case, according to the organisation’s management’s calculations, 30–40 million lei for per hectare subsidies, to which beet growers are entitled under the PSPA strategy for the current year, should have been sufficient.
Some representatives of the sugar beet industry predict that the area under sugar beet next year “will shrink by a further 20 per cent or so if the incentive subsidies for sugar beet growers are not paid out”.
According to Viorel Chivriga, an expert in agricultural economics, building a business on the basis of state support is, in principle, incorrect; ‘it must be based on economic calculations derived from market conditions’.
However, in Moldova’s agricultural sector, the expert believes, subsidies are sometimes necessary not only to improve market efficiency but also to sustain farming communities in certain regions (in this case, some northern districts of Moldova). It is up to the government to decide in the very near future where exactly the priority lies.
‘Is it not too late?’
According to Alexandru Slusari, director of the Forța Fermierilor Association, the window of opportunity for timely support for beet growers has already been missed. In the sense that, with less than two months remaining until the end of the year, the authorised state body will not have time to announce a round of applications from this category of agricultural producers, review them and disburse the funds due.
However, according to the aforementioned source, the most ‘pressing issue’ of funding availability, contrary to the pessimistic outlook of the Ministry of Agriculture’s leadership, may resolve itself. This is because potential beneficiaries may not draw down the entire budget (around 100 million lei) for the two state support measures already announced by the AIPA agency – rural start-ups, small and family farms. In other words, the several tens of millions of lei requested by beet growers may well be available.
Another matter is that, at the Ministry of Agriculture’s suggestion, the government may allocate these funds to partially settle debts relating to post-investment subsidies, which some farmers have been waiting for for several years. But this, again, is a question of priorities.
‘If the government intends to support the sector, then, in theory, it could already inform beet growers of its intention to announce a round of applications for subsidies for beet crops for the 2026 harvest in the early months of next year and to pay them out of the budget of the National Fund for the Support of Agriculture and Rural Areas 2027, – believes Alexander Slusari. – However, political will is required to make such promises.”
Incidentally, will and determination will be needed not only from the government, but also from the beet growers themselves. In the aforementioned letter to the government, they stated that if the authorities do not meet them halfway on the issue of subsidies, they will support farmers’ protests.
The Forța Fermierilor council is expected to decide, presumably by the end of this week, whether or not to take part in these protests with agricultural machinery in November. However, representatives of the association doubt that, even if a positive decision is taken, beet growers will join them in protesting ‘shoulder to shoulder’ – there are few of them, and they are too well-off and cautious. They have a lot to lose.
Be that as it may, according to sugar market operators, there is another question for the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture: where is the logic? On the one hand, the minister announced a lack of funds for subsidies for beet growers – the raw material producers who form the backbone of the beet sugar industry – at the end of this year, just as they are finalising their plans for the coming season. On the other hand, during the same television programme, Minister MAIA highlighted the existence of a draft government regulation limiting sugar imports from CEFTA countries.
In other words, as part of the framework conditions for next year, Moldova’s sugar market could potentially face both a reduction in domestic sugar production and restrictions on imports of this product. Will this inevitably lead to a rise in prices?
This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.
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