Rome, 25 August 2011 – As Moldova prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its independence on 27 August, the country’s agriculture and rural development sectors are showing positive signs of development, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

“Moldova has continuously stepped up its efforts to improve its agri-business sector to meet demand from both domestic and export markets,” said Abdelkarim Sma, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Moldova. “Positive steps are also being taken with regard to employment opportunities for youth.”

More than half of Moldova’s population lives in rural areas with agriculture accounting for about 40 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Thirty-five per cent of the population is below the age of 24.

While there have been some successes, the country still has a long way to go to ensure employment for young women and men. For them, the risk of being unemployed is twice as high as for the next segment of the population, those above the age of 25. Many are leaving the country to find employment. About one quarter of Moldova’s 4.5 million people work abroad, sending money home to sustain families. But as the recently issued IFAD video “Moldova 20 years on” shows, little of this money is actually re-invested in local business development or job creation activities.

IFAD has supported Moldova’s efforts to strengthen its rural areas since 1999, focusing on market access and enhancing the profitability of rural businesses to give rural communities decent employment opportunities. For example, in Antonesti, a small village in the eastern part of the country,  IFAD supported the formation of a water-users association and the development of a network of pumps and pipes that would deliver drinking water directly to village homes.

“Without water, our economy could not be developed,” said Alexandru Baes, a resident of Antonesti. “But then, when we installed the water tower, several small businesses started up, which created new jobs.”

To date, IFAD has financed five projects in Moldova for a total of US$69 million. Earlier this year, the Government of Moldova and IFAD agreed on a $39.2 million project, cofinanced by the Danish International Development Agency. The project will target around 37,000 poor rural people and provide access to rural financial services and benefits from small-scale infrastructure development.

“Agriculture offers the greatest potential for job creation in Moldova,” Sma said. “IFAD’s projects have created about 5,000 full-time jobs directly. We are hopeful that working with the government we can give young people better opportunities so that Moldovans living abroad have a better  reason to return home to their families.”

Note to Editors

The video “Moldova 20 years on” filmed in Moldova was released by IFAD earlier this week. For footage or further information regarding the video, please contact James Heer, Head of IFAD’s Video Unit (Email: j.heer@ifad.org, Tel: +39 06 5459 2550).

Press release No.: IFAD/58/2011

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$12.9 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 370 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the United Nation’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 166 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).