People in Need rehabilitates pastures and helps develop Moldova's dairy sector
Published: Oct 23, 2024 Reading time: 2 minutes
People in Need contributes to the development of the dairy sector in the Republic of Moldova through the MILK project. The project supports small farmers, the cornerstone of our country's dairy sector.
Under the project, we are also supporting the rehabilitation of pastures in 7 localities. We used European practices, such as providing high-quality grass seeds for animal feed and increasing milk productivity, to support the development of the dairy sector.
According to project manager Octavian Olaru,"Pastures in Moldova are in a precarious state, but they are the best food source for livestock owners in rural areas. Thus, by rehabilitating these pastures, we provide animals with quality feed, increase the milk productivity of cattle, and improve the quality of milk."
So far, we have rehabilitated over 100 hectares of pastures in 7 villages. In 2023, in the village of Petreni, we rehabilitated 8 hectares of pastures, and the villagers and administration members were satisfied with the cattle's milk productivity due to these changes.
Mayor of Petreni, Valeriu Tizu, says,"We are working with People in Need for the second year. We duplicated those 8 hectares we sowed last year, which already emerged in the spring. We plan to sow the 12 hectares on the hillside this year because the grass is weaker. We are improving the quality of the pasture for the villagers' animals."
The project is part of the Czech Development Agency's (CzechAid) portfolio for agriculture, which provides small farmers in Moldova with the necessary support to increase milk productivity and, possibly, their income.
Barbora Žáčková, Counselor for Economic Cooperation and Development, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Chisinau, told us,"This project is part of our agriculture portfolio, one of the priority sectors of bilateral cooperation between the Czech Republic and Moldova. It is essential as many small farmers are in Moldova, but their milk production is considerably lower than their real potential. Therefore, we support farmers in reaching this potential and improving the milk productivity of their cattle so that they can sell more and increase their income.
The project MILK: "Modernisation, innovation, and use of knowledge for the dairy sector in the Republic of Moldova" is funded by the Czech Development Agency and implemented by People in Need Moldova.
