CHISINAU (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2020) Moldovan farmers, who have lost crops, drove agricultural machinery to the country's highways and blocked traffic on the Chisinau-Causeni road, calling on the authorities to support them, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Tuesday.
Agriculture industry workers from the Moldovan regions of Causeni and Stefan Voda have previously staged a protest on the country's highways over the lack of government support amid a harvest failure. Many farmers have lost this year's crops due to the inclement weather.
"We want to block the highway for at least 20 minutes so that the authorities pay attention to us. And we are ready to repeat this every two hours. And if they do not hear us after that, we will send tractors to Chisinau. In the Cimislia region, the highway has already been blocked, too," one of the protesters said.
Traffic was restored in 20 minutes, as promised by the protesters, however, it was said to be a warning action.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Moldovan lawmakers created a working group to tackle the issue.
The country's meteorologists have said that this past winter was abnormally warm with insufficient precipitation, as many areas received between 40 and 70 percent of the expected rainfall. A drought in spring was followed by heavy rains and hail in May, which washed away a large part of the crops.
