The Republic of Moldova is a small country in Eastern Europe landlocked between Romania and Ukraine. Agriculture is a key sector of the national economy, accounting for approximately 14.5 per cent of the Republic of Moldova’s GDP and employing more than a quarter (28 per cent) of the country’s working population, half of which are women.
This report reviews the economic, regulatory and institutional and trade policy environments characterizing the honey, cereal and walnut sectors, underlining their export and value-added potential. It describes several examples of successful entrepreneurial developments in the form of mini case-studies, featuring organic walnut production and export, organic and bottled honey export and tentative efforts for granola bar production. The study also attempts to identify potential synergies among the sectors and the potential to enhance their exports through ecotourism.
SWOT analysis of the three areas is also performed and National Action Plans (NAPs) regarding walnut, honey and cereal exports are provided, which focus on a limited number of selected actions in order to ensure a realistic step-by-step approach to implementation while avoiding overwhelming long lists of actions/measures.