Drought hits animal feed in Moldova
The report of the organization of agricultural producers of Moldova, UniAgroProtect, stated that this year’s harvest of food grains would be nearly 50% lower compared to last year.
“According to information of the Agricultural and Food Ministry the losses from the drought largely exceed last year’s figure,” said the head of UniAgroProtect Alexandr Slusar. “In fact, this year’s harvest will be comparable with 2012 when industry faced one of the strongest droughts ever.”
The situation seems likely to force Moldovan manufacturers to switch to import of feed crops from neighbor countries, primarily Romania and Ukraine. However, so far such supplies have not been established and they are expected to be more expensive than domestic feed crops.
'Oversupply'
“The feed is in deficit, and farmers are looking to sell their animals,” said the head of the Huncheshtsky pig farm Petru Moravu. “There is a poor harvest of corn and alfalfa, while cattle farmers also lost pasture feed capability. This forced farmers to try to sell their animals, but that was not easy as the market faces oversupply problems.”
That oversupply is reportedly pushing down prices, which fall almost every week. Market sources say the current situation didn’t create the oversupply crisis, but only worsened it, as initially it started last year after the introduction of the full Russian ban on meat import from Moldova.
“Currently we face a very strong decrease in meat prices,” said the head of the private farm at the Hincesti district of Moldova Andrei Briliante. “Previously [last year] pork in live weight cost MDL 36 (US$1.86), while cattle meat cost MDL 30 (US$1.55). Today, you can sell both at a maximum of MDL 21 (US$1.08). And producers should consider that a good price.”
Subsidising animal feed
In response to the situation farmers have petitioned the country’s agricultural ministry to support the livestock industry, particularly by partially subsidising the purchase of animal feed abroad. However, according to representatives of the ministry, farmers will be supported solely through an existing fund for agricultural producers, which will not be expanded this year.
“The fund is growing every year,” said acting agricultural minister Ion Sula. “For 2015, it will have MDL 610 million (US$ 31.5). The fund is designed to modernize the sector. Of course, we would like to make this process go faster, but we are limited by the state budget.”
He also added that in 2014 the value of all applications for state support in Moldova totalled MDL 825 (US$ 42.7m). This year the figure would probably exceed MDL 1 billion (US$ 51.7m), given the drought and the meat industry's problems.
