In 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry will start investing in animal husbandry to revive this sector. The assurances are given by the minister Vladimir Bolea, according to which this year, through a loan from the World Bank, cattle farms will be modernized. The minister says that it is imperative that the Republic of Moldova produces at least partially the quantities of milk required for consumption, so that the quota of imports is reduced, notes ipn.md.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry says that this year there are all the prerequisites to start “the reanimation” of the livestock sector. According to the official, in this sense, the necessary legislation was approved and a loan from the World Bank was contracted. The borrowed money will become invested in the modernization of cattle farms.
“The Minister of Agriculture in Germany asked me how many cows we have and when I told him that from 5100 in 2021 we now have 13 thousand milking cows, he told me that this is not animal husbandry. The objective is that by 2025 we will have around 20 thousand highly productive cows that will allow us to have 8 thousand liters per year from one animal. To solve this problem, the animal husbandry law was harmonized back in 2022 when I was a deputy. By the beginning of June, we will also have the money from the World Bank. It is a project of the Government with the World Bank through which we attract 55 million dollars to the agricultural segment, of which 25 million are intended for animal husbandry”, said Vladimir Bolea in a show on TVR Moldova.
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According to Minister Vladimir Bolea, the animal husbandry sector is an extremely expensive one. Still, its development will allow the Republic of Moldova to give up, in part, the massive imports of dairy products and will ensure new jobs.
“Today, to create a place for a dairy animal on the farm means 10 thousand euros. These are very big investments. But we hope with these 25 million dollars to be able to fortify the farms we have and to have at least 20 thousand animals that will allow us to have 160 thousand liters of milk. Our domestic consumption is 568 thousand liters. We want to exclude a little from the massive imports. We must be resilient and we must guarantee jobs. A farm always means jobs. The farm is not the type of agriculture that has an occasional, sporadic character, but has continuity and always gives added value”, concluded the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry.
Previously, the president of the National Association of Milk Producers, Carolina Linte, mentioned that 90% of the milk – raw material used for dairy products in the Republic of Moldova is taken from individuals, authorized farms offering a reduced amount of milk.
According to Carolina Linte, until the war, Ukraine provided the Republic of Moldova with the largest amount of dairy products, now products from Ukraine are being replaced by those from Romania.