Development of the agri-food sector in the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

The agri-food sector of the Republic of Moldova has undergone significant changes in the past decades. In the context of Moldova's European aspirations, the modernization of the agri-food sector must comply with European patterns and trends that will allow the agri-food industry to adapt to the requirements of international markets, especially in terms of safety and quality of food. The trade policy pursued by the Republic of Moldova at the current stage is focused on geographical diversification of the agri-food exports, primarily to reduce the risks caused by widespread non-tariff measures to protect domestic markets. The main drivers of the integration processes are private business operators and traders. However, the efficiency of the newly emerged food value chains is still low. This investigation was done in the framework of the FP7 project “AGRICISTRADE” using the official statistical data, qualitative and quantitative studies and other relevant publications. In this paper the importance and the most recent changes of the agti-food sector of the Republic of Moldova were demonstrated, the main impediments were analyzed and proposals to foster the agri-food sector development were provided.