Good news for viticulturists and winemakers. In a few years, they will be able to buy high-quality seedlings grown in Moldova. The Ministry of Agriculture and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have signed an agreement that provides for over 400,000 dollars of investment to produce seedlings.

The signed Memorandum provides for the rehabilitation of the in vitro propagation laboratory of the seedlings and its accreditation according to the European Union standards.

"We have to build the greenhouses, where we will prepare that material to present it to agricultural producers,," said Constantin Dadu, director of the Institute of Food Technologies.

Of 400,000 dollars, 200,000 dollars is the contribution of the Ministry of Agriculture, 100,000 dollars is the grant provided by USAID, and the rest of the money comes from the National Vine and Wine Office and from a Swiss foundation.

"We will have the opportunity to increase the quality of grapes and their realization both in the country and international market," said Silviu Volconovici, Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment.

Vine plantations need to be renewed as they have low productivity and some varieties are not competitive on international markets.

Farmers setting up vine plantations receive subsidies of 40,000 lei per hectare. 

In Moldova there are over 137 thousand hectares of vine.