Moldova's agricultural sector to be digitised
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry could create a digital map next year and all land in Moldova will have cadastral numbers, Minister Vladimir Bolea said. According to Guido Beltrani, director of the Swiss Cooperation Office, digitisation of the agricultural sector will help the Moldovan authorities cope with climate change and open up new export opportunities.
The draft digital map of Moldova will be presented on 21 March at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, Minister Vladimir Bolea told a conference. According to the official, more than 3.3 million hectares will be included in a digital map with cadastral numbers. Vladimir Bolea also pointed out that this will reduce the number of documents farmers have to submit to the Agency for Intervention and Payments for Agriculture and will help the Agency to monitor the situation on the ground.
"We have taken inspiration from the programme in Austria. All these things come to the benefit of the farmer in the monitoring process of the state when we are talking about the submission of documents to the subsidy from a farmer, when AIPA goes to the field checks, went online the same day, and sees throughout what was the percentage of moisture, what was sown, was the siltation taken into account or not, when the work took place, the wine register, the livestock register, the farmers' register. They will all be in a single programme administered by the Ministry of Agriculture," explained Vladimir Bolea.
The official also pointed out that the digitisation programme will last several years, and will include gradually implemented projects.
The use of digitised technologies in agriculture will cut the costs of agricultural products, help the authorities in Chisinau face climate change and open up new opportunities for exports, said Guido Beltrani, Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office.
"Digitised technologies could reduce the costs of agricultural production, increase resilience to climate shocks, open new doors, considering the candidate country status granted to Moldova last year. The free trade agreement between Moldova and the European Union is expected to be signed this year. This will open up new export opportunities and to make the best use of them smart technologies need to be implemented," said Guido Beltrani.
The director of the Swiss Cooperation Office also stressed that Moldovan farmers should use agricultural drones to make their work more efficient.
The Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office also recommended farmers to use various mobile applications that will allow them to monitor and optimise their production.
