Expert Veaceslav Ionita explains why are farmers protesting in Moldova

Farmers are organizing a new protest action with agricultural machinery from several regions towards Chisinau. According to the organizers, they will reach three locations on the outskirts of the city with tractors, and on Thursday, they will protest in front of the Government.

In an attempt to explain why these massive protests occur, the economist Veaceslav Ioniță presented a graph showing the evolution of wheat prices, which currently cost 2.55 lei/kg, similar to 2019. “The prices of agricultural production this year have decreased by half compared to last year. From 28% for corn to 53.7% for sunflower,” claimed him.

“At that time, fertilizers increased fourfold, labor costs increased by 1.7 times, and diesel is 1.5 times more expensive. So, we have about a twofold increase in production costs, while prices have remained the same as in 2019. That’s the reason for the protests,” says Ioniță.

Farmers are organizing a new protest action with agricultural machinery from several regions towards Chisinau. According to the organizers, they will reach three locations on the outskirts of the city with tractors, and on Thursday, they will protest in front of the Government.

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After a meeting with Prime Minister Dorin Recean on November 7, the “Force of Farmers” Association and the National Federation of Farmers announced that they would protest massively with agricultural machinery, dissatisfied with the results of the negotiations at the Government.

On Friday, November 17, representatives of the farmers also met with the Minister of Agriculture, Vladimir Bolea, but did not give up on protests. The minister then announced the creation of a working group, which would include representatives from several ministries and would examine each file of agricultural producers affected by drought and low cereal prices. Later, the group will decide who and how can benefit from state aid to compensate for these damages.

According to the farmers, the ministry has said nothing about compensation for cereal producers from the National Fund for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Environment for 2024, and his proposal to create the working group is “delayed and insufficient.”

Earlier, the “Force of Farmers” also demanded the ban on imports of Ukrainian cereals and oilseeds and their transit through the territory of the Republic of Moldova only by rail, requests that are absent from the respective declaration.