The anti-hail rocket launchers in Ştefan Vodă could become operational this summer.
The Minister of Agriculture announced that the anti-hail rocket launchers in Ştefan Vodă could become operational this summer. He added that the Government is examining solutions to finance the reopening of 6 other stations in several regions of the Republic of Moldova, where agricultural land is not protected from hail.
VIOREL GHERCIU Minister of Agriculture: “We intend for the stations to be functional, not only the one from Ştefan Vodă to which you referred because we have 7 stations in such a situation. Our task is to ensure the efficient activity of the sector and hail protection is part of this task. We aim for all 7 centers to be equipped, to become functional and to be provided with the necessary staff ”.
For the operation of the 7 anti-hail rocket launch stations and need 7 million lei. The Minister of Agriculture hopes that the Government will approve the allocation of this amount of money as soon as possible. The official also stated that he relies on Romania’s help regarding the insurance with anti-hail missiles.
VIOREL GHERCIU Minister of Agriculture: “The discussion is about providing financial resources to ensure the function of these centers. I will be able to tell you that they are functional when I see the budget approved for the centers. For each center, 1 million lei is needed to ensure its operation. Surfaces remain uncovered with hail protection. We also had a meeting with colleagues from Romania to identify free solutions to protection with anti-hail missiles ”.
The anti-hail service in the Republic of Moldova procures anti-hail missiles from two countries. Short-range missiles are purchased from Bulgaria and long-range missiles from the Russian Federation. Currently, there are 132 anti-hail rocket launchers in the Republic of Moldova, which protect crops from an area of almost 1.7 million hectares of land. More than 300,000 hectares of agricultural land remain unprotected. These are lands from Soldanesti, Rezina, Criuleni, Anenii Noi, Causeni, Stefan Voda, Cimişlia and Leova districts. In December last year, Agriculture Minister Viorel Gherciu spoke with his Bucharest counterpart Adrian Chesnoiu about the need for a modern anti-hail system in the Republic of Moldova. According to the two officials, the national hail system must be connected to the European one. For this reason, the legislation of the Republic of Moldova must be harmonized with the European one in order for the mechanisms of the national anti-hail system to correspond to the international requirements.