Moldova’s first-ever general agricultural census was completed last month, thanks to an FAO project made possible by technical and financial support from neighboring Romania.

Completion of the census means that the Republic of Moldova now has reliable, up-to-date, and internationally comparable data on agriculture that it can use for planning and evaluating activity in the sector.

Nearly 75 percent of land in Moldova is dedicated to agriculture, making agricultural development critical for future economic growth, increasing people’s income, and improving food security in rural areas.

In the past, the government collected annual data on registered farms over 10 hectares in size, but lacked reliable data on small family farms.

“The first agricultural census has filled a critical gap in information and laid the foundation for a thorough system of agricultural statistics,” said Giorgi Kvinikadze, FAO statistician for Europe and Central Asia. “In addition, this project has really enhanced the capacity of Moldova’s National Bureau of Statistics to collect, analyze, and disseminate key statistical information on the agricultural sector.”

The census collected key information on the activities of small producers, crops, inputs, irrigation, livestock population by species, employment on agricultural holdings, land use for crops and livestock, and stock of machinery and equipment.

“I think the entire FAO team working on the census felt that the success of the project was in large part due to the great collaboration between us and our Moldovan and Romanian counterparts,” said Kvinikadze. “A number of Romanian experts contributed technical inputs that were invaluable for completing the task.”

The new census data will be used to enhance evidence-based policy making in the agricultural sector and help Moldova to establish an integrated system of agricultural surveys for production and dissemination of accurate food security and agricultural statistics.

With support from the project, Moldova’s agricultural census results were presented for the first time at an international conference held in Chisinau on 17-18 June 2015.

“The general agricultural census is of enormous advantage for Moldova, in particular regarding the planning process for sustainable agricultural policies,” said Moldova’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vlad Loghin. “The Ministry is using the results in implementing relevant activities for the benefit of Moldovan farmers. In this sense, I would like to express our thanks to Romanian Government and to Romanian experts for their precious financial and technical assistance. At the same time, it is important to emphasize the FAO role in implementing the project being much appreciated.”

An earlier, FAO-financed project paved the way by developing a detailed census implementation plan, training and materials, and technical assistance to Moldova’s National Bureau of Statistics. 

3 July 2015, Chisinau, Moldova