Slusari: Hundreds and Thousands of Farmers Will Go Bankrupt by Fall

The drought-hit farmers in Moldova fear that they will not be able to pay their creditors and demand a state of emergency in the sector. Experts compare Moldova to the south of Spain, and farmers are adjusting to the new realities, choosing other sorts of cereals. The second decade of July was record hot, with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius in the shade, dw.com reports. “We are turning into a desert, the drought will only intensify, we need to take materials for the sowing season not north of Moldova, but south, for example varieties from Chile,” said farmer Dumitru Orestu. “The soil temperature this summer was 80 degrees. I have been in business since 1986, but I have never witnessed such a drought,” said farmer Nicolae Sprincean. “All agricultural producers have loans, repression has started, bank loans are paid back with difficulty, and fertilizer sellers, seeing that agrarians cannot pay, are suing. People are left without machinery and land,” said Sprincean. “We have seen dozens of farmers go bankrupt before, and by fall there will be hundreds to thousands of bankrupts,” said Alexandru Slusari, former head of the Power of Farmers Association. According to him, the strategy of agricultural development should be changed, including with the support of external partners.