The drought in Moldova led to an ultimatum to the government

Authorities demand a number of concessions for the agricultural industry

The Moldovan government has been given an ultimatum. The farmers presented it, dissatisfied that the state of emergency has not yet been declared in the country. The reason is that an unprecedented drought has hit the country, threatening the entire agriculture of Moldova. Now business executives are demanding a number of concessions from the authorities, and in case of refusal they are hinting at a transition to active protests.

Back in early July, an “orange code” of danger due to drought was introduced in Moldova. The scale of the tragedy becomes clear when you read how the residents of Chisinau receive water by the hour. The lakes and rivers that feed the cities and fields are drying up, and a serious blow has been dealt to farmers. Because of the drought, they will miss half of the grain harvest, they will not be able to sow winter crops. Crops such as sunflower, barley, wheat, corn are under attack. The collection of honey in the country has already decreased by at least two times. Beekeepers were able to get only part of the acacia honey, and the extraction of other types of delicacy due to drought is close to zero.

All this led to a conflict between the agrarians and the authorities. Representatives of farms put forward an ultimatum to the Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Bole, demanding to give an answer during the day when the government introduces a state of emergency. In their opinion, the state of emergency could help to get a deferment on the payment of loans, and the affected farms could count on tax benefits.

The government will be able to find resources to partially compensate for the losses to farmers, perhaps with the help of external sources. The farmers threatened that if their issue was not resolved by the end of the week, “other instruments would be used to protect our interests.” And it is not the first time for agricultural producers to organize protest actions. In 2020, they arrived on tractors to the parliament building in Chisinau, after which they staged brawls with law enforcement officers. Moskovsky Komsomolets asked Dmitry Kiseev, a well-known political scientist in Moldova, about whether farmers would now decide on such radical measures.

“So far, there are no opportunities to compensate farmers for anything,” the expert says. – Even the fuel. Moreover, we have such a system in the country that farmers pay tax, VAT or an advance payment in the spring and then pay extra after the harvest. That is, the farmer does not yet know whether he will receive a crop, but he is already paying an advance. Therefore, our state does not make practically any concessions to farmers.

Should we expect active protest actions from them?

— Protests will increase closer to winter. I will assume that the peak of protests will be in October and November, but for now our government has taken the tactic of simply ignoring all problems, blaming them on a conflict in a neighboring country. And this is the position they will hold as long as possible.

– Will the protests be able to influence the situation in the country and change the position of the government?

– Hardly. The government has already stated many times that they have their own understanding of how to run the country. I do not think that the protests will be able to influence anything. But everything depends on the mass character, if 100-200 thousand people come to the square, they will not be able to ignore and will be forced to make concessions. And if, as it is now, when, relatively speaking, a thousand people gather in Gagauzia, this is not an indicator for Chisinau.

— And what concessions for farmers could they make?

– They can increase subventions, compensations per hectare. Or remove the advance payment of VAT. They can separately negotiate with farmers, but again, if the problem is massive.