Alexandru Badarau, Head of the Farmers’ Power Association, Became an Adviser to the Prime Minister

Alexandru Badarau, executive director of the Farmers’ Power Association, will take up the post of Prime Minister Dorin Recean’s adviser in the field of agriculture.  He claims he was chosen following a competition, although the government earlier said he had been invited by Recean himself, tv8.md reported. “Prime Minister Dorin Recean, as he has publicly pledged, has invited Mr Badarau, head of the Farmers’ Power Association, to take up the position of agriculture adviser to the prime minister to help farmers in this public office,” government spokesman Daniel Voda said. In a commentary for TV8, Badarau said that he did not receive an offer personally from Dorin Recean, but that he was chosen following a competition. “I received no proposals from Mr Recean. There was a procedure, an event that involved all the relevant associations in the agricultural sector. (...) Three people were elected: Tatiana Nistorica, the next candidate was me, I got 6 votes, the third candidate was Viorel Gherciu. We were presented to the Prime Minister. After discussions, Tatiana Nistorica herself refused the post. I, on the other hand, made a commitment, having been nominated by the associations that supported my candidature, and accepted the post,” said Badarau. At the end of November, he attended a meeting at which the Prime Minister announced that he would appoint a person nominated by the relevant farmers’ association as agricultural adviser. Agrarians threatened protests again this week. The farmers’ association says that the authorities have failed to fulfill their previous promises, failed to accept the refund of excise duty on diesel fuel for 2024, failed to fulfil all obligations under the programme for the refund of accumulated VAT and failed to fully compensate for the losses of previous years from droughts. Many farmers started the new 2024-2025 farming season without the financial means and resources to continue their operations because financial institutions or input suppliers denied them loan. In 2024, Moldovan farmers held several protests across the country. They claimed that the situation in the agricultural sector was critical, many of the small and medium-sized farms were on the verge of bankruptcy, and that state support was untimely and insufficient. Farmers accused the authorities of lacking effective measures to regulate the turnover of grain and oilseed crops and unfulfilled promises to support farmers. The authorities responded that they had done their best, including barrier measures for Ukrainian grain and financial support for farmers. But they said that they were ready to continue dialogue.