Towards Better Policy Monitoring: Operational Survey Results On The Impact Of Agricultural Subsidies In Moldova

Agricultural sector of Moldova is of particular importance in the context of the benefits and added value that in brings to the development of the national economy. Its proper development is conditioned, inclusively, on the public support allocated to farmers, via the subsidy program. The broad discussions on the efficiency of subsidies have been fueled by the necessity to evaluate their impact on the development of agri-food sector in particular and economy, in general. The aim of the paper is to present some of the theoretical and applied approaches for designing policy monitoring and evaluation system to assess short-term efficiency of subsidies in Moldova. The tool is based on a developed survey intended for beneficiaries of all categories of subsidies. The questionnaire is focused on financial data, as well as data related to land, personnel, investments, accountancy, exports, etc. The results of the first-time implementation of the survey present an increased efficiency in investments, profits, land productivity, labor productivity and mechanization. The survey represented itself as a useful tool for monitoring the short-term efficiency of subsides, capable to assess the specific impacts on the sector. At the same time, the paper presents a series of further improvement needed for a better operation of this monitoring and evaluation instruments in order to make it more functional, user-friendly, less time consuming, requiring a limited number of case studies for confirmation of the obtained results.