FARMER'S CENTER

The JSC "Alfa-Nistru" relies on the up-to-date technologies and professional experience to manufacture its products. The fact that the enterprise installed new efficient production lines instead of obsolete equipment increased the production capacity of the enterprise. Besides the markets of Moldova and CIS we entered the markets of Romania, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, which was possible due to the high quality of our products and efficient marketing strategy.

However, the production lines available are not able to produce the necessary volume of high-quality production for Eastern and Western Markets. Another critical component defining successful activity is raw material supply. Moldavian agricultural production has been in the worst state during the last years. This mostly concerns gardening. During the last 10 years there were no new orchards planted. Moreover, the new orchard becomes profitable only 4 years after it has been laid, when it starts bearing fruit. The capability of old orchards is constantly decreasing due to the insufficient maintenance, lack of necessary equipment and technologies misuse.

In order to eliminate this situation, in 1997 we created a fruit nursery producing virus-free planting stock.
The laboratory for quality control of the planting stock tests plants for viruses and performs ELISA and IFA analysis.
The nursery has a large variety of rootstocks of apple-trees, pear-trees, and plum-trees, and planting stock of strawberries, raspberries and currants. We increase the variety of plants in our nursery by means of local and foreign selection (Poland, Germany, Hungary, USA).

Biological material resources of the nursery allow growing of 1.5 - 2.0 mln. standard saplings a year.

The nursery also produces planting stock, which is both used internally and sold to farmers and farms.
The JSC "Alfa-Nistru" scheduled delivering of 4.5 million saplings to the farms in the next two years, and producing fruit saplings in 7 - 10 years, which would be used to plant 3000 hectares of land instead of old apple gardens.

Usually, after privatizing the land, the majority of farmers don't have agricultural machines to cultivate the land. We have found proper solution to eliminate this situation.

In November 1999 the JSC "Alfa-Nistru" signed a subcontract agreement with СNFA for creating the Farmer's Service Center by the JSC "Alfa-Nistru". This project targets at providing assistance to farms and farmers and aiding them with equipment, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other necessary resources.

Currently, the FSC has 13 tractors and 3 harvesters available and provides services in ploughing, seeding, cultivation, spraying, harvesting and routine equipment maintenance. In order to meet market requirements we have to increase the number of agricultural machines and procure 50 tractors in several years.

The Farmer's Service Center opened a shop, where one can find planting stock, seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

The Center has also opened a soil laboratory and introduces the Integrated Plant Protection System. The Soil Laboratory allows providing competent advising on fertilizers' use. The Integrated Plant Protection System equipment provides timely forecasts on diseases and vermin and calculates the terms for garden spraying.

The FSC and Nursery of the JSC "Alfa-Nistru" play the leading role in re-orienting the farmers so that they grow the sorts of plants being much in demand on the market, such as berries and high-yielding, disease-resistant and virus-free sorts of apple-trees.

The JSC "Alfa-Nistru" provides the farmers with access to the fresh fruit and vegetables market, using its own network of distributors, working together with important Moldovan fresh food exporters.

In order to meet the requirements of the market development, which express in the increased demand on the fast freezed products, the JSC "Alfa-Nistru" will have to implement the Individual fast freezing line in the course of one or two years. After that, the JSC "Alfa-Nistru" and supplying farmers would deliver the products demanded by all customer categories.