The best road in Moldova, as its users believe, the Sarateni-Soroca road rehabilitated with the U.S. Government’s Compact support was inaugurated.
About 80 million USD are invested by the U.S. Government in the rehabilitation of 10 irrigation systems that will cover more than 15 thousand hectares of land farmed by more than 9 thousand farmers.
We started packing and supplying our products two years ago. At the beginning we sorted vegetables manually and packed them using plain equipment that we had procured for 6 thousand Euros. In spite of our 30 workers, they managed to sort only 7 tons of vegetables daily – not enough to meet the demand.
The U.S. Government will provide about 80 million USD for the reconstruction of 10 irrigation systems that will allow for the irrigation of more than 15 thousand hectares of land farmed by 9 000 farmers. The contracts with the construction companies have already been signed and the works have started at several systems.
The capacity of the cold storage facilities for fruits and vegetables in Moldova has increased with more than 19 thousand tons due to the Compact loans made to agricultural entrepreneurs.
The reconstruction of the Sarateni-Soroca road with the U.S. Government’s Compact funds is in the homestretch. About 70% of the road rehabilitation works were completed by early June this year.
About 5 km of pipes for the Criuleni and Lopatna irrigation systems were installed in September, while the outdated and damaged pump station equipment was removed as part of the pump station rehabilitation activities.
One of the most impressive structures on the Sarateni-Soroca road the construction of which has already started is going to be the Sarateni grade separation. This is going to be the only junction of this kind built in the last 20 years in Moldova. This structure will ease the traffic and, more importantly, will increase the road safety and reduce the number of car accidents on this road segment.
The companies contracted to rehabilitate the Sarateni-Soroca road with Compact funds delivered road safety training to 2639 children and 186 teachers from high schools, gymnasiums and schools in the villages of the rayons of Floresti, Soroca and Telenesti located along the Sarateni-Soroca road. A modern road must also be a safe road, which is why the communities learned about the road safety requirements during the road rehabilitation works and how to prevent traffic accidents.
The 12 villages located along the Sarateni-Soroca road to be rehabilitated with Compact funds are actively engaged in monitoring the rehabilitation works. In every village social impact monitoring committees were created from people who enjoy the trust of the entire community.
SRL „VICMAR-AGRO” was created in 2002 in the village of Grimancauti, Briceni rayon. It grows and sells fruit and melons. The enterprise owns over 105 ha of apple orchards, 50 ha of which are fruit-bearing orchards with a range of summer and autumn apple varieties which allow for longer storage.
The individual farm „SV Fruct” from Edinet town has been running a fruit-growing business for 9 years. It is a member of the Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters „Moldova-Fruct” and one of the companies that are allowed to export fruit to Russia.
The local team of engineers of the company contracted to design the irrigation systems under the Compact are now conducting several relevant studies and evaluations, i.e. topographic, geotechnical, soil and water quality studies, evaluation of the condition of the irrigation networks and pumping stations using advanced equipment that has never been applied for irrigation systems before.
The presidents of Water Users Associations (WUAs), MCA Moldova and MCC representatives undertook a study trip to Portugal in the period of February 25- March 3, 2012.
Transition to high value agriculture is a complex process that will be successful only through the synergy of efforts both on the part of women and men.
U.S. Ambassador Moser and Prime Minister FILAT rode their bicycles along a 10 km section of the 93 km Sarateni-Soroca road to be rehabilitated under the Compact.
In the past, Iulia Murea used to work as a public functionary in an air-conditioned office – and she might have been doing so these days, too, but a few years ago she changed the city life for what she calls an agricultural adventure.
Water management will be simplified due to the information systems expected to be put in place under the Compact.
The individual farm „SV Fruct” from Edinet town has been running a fruit-growing business for 9 years. It is a member of the Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters „Moldova-Fruct” and one of the companies that are allowed to export fruit to Russia.
