Exporter's success spread waves of confidence and efficiency

USAID ADP helps a Value Chain Driver to increase exports to Western Europe and to create jobs in the entire region

When he was a teenager, Ion Gaburici used to help the collective farm (colhoz) of Corlateni village in Moldova to harvest pears and plums. Together with his classmates, he took part every autumn in the organized help the school provided in harvesting the crops — a common practice in the former Soviet Union. Thirty years later the Soviet Union became history, Moldova gained its independence, the collective owned land was privatized and Ion opened his own business — IMD Ltd. "I wish I could say that I run a big company, but I don't. Back in 1993, when I started it, I used to collect plums from the entire region, dry them and sell them to Russia. It was a fair business. I would sell up to 300 tons of plums per year." Because of the increased difficulties in selling to Russian markets after 2005, Ion Gaburici like so many others saw his business threatened. Out of five plum orchards in Corlateni, four are abandoned now. Their owners fear that they will have no buyer in the harvest period and the investments would bring no revenue. "Many of my suppliers come and ask me what will we do now?" And they come to Ion because he has an answer.

To help Moldovan agricultural products find new markets, the Agribusiness Development Project (ADP), funded by USAID and implemented by CNFA, provides technical support to Value Chain Drivers — companies that are able to provide high quality products to meet EU and other international market requirements. One of these is Monicol Ltd. Established in 2001, the company specializes in dried fruit exports. With ADP support, Monicol has completely renovated the main drying facility, upgrading its capacity to 2,000 mt/year. This year alone, Monicol has purchased already more than 800 tons of fresh plums and apples from 15 large farms and about 400 tons from 350 small farmers. The company increased export sales from $670 thousand in 2004 to $1.98 million in 2005, and projects 2006 sales up to $3.1 million (an increase of 56%). The company also provides full time jobs for 100 employees and at the seasonal peak will hire up to 400 persons. In 2004 the company exported to five EU countries, whereas in 2006 the export sales are expected to reach 11 countries (Lithuania, Germany, Latvia, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Austria, Slovakia, Holland, and Czech Republic). In addition, Monicol is planning to launch a new series of retail products at a competitive price under their own brand on the local market followed by exports to Germany and Baltic states.

"The loss of the Russian markets didn’t affect me as much as other drying fruit companies", says Ion Gaburici. "I have a contract with Monicol and now I am selling them both fresh and dried plums. I organized the people from Corlateni to recover one of the abandoned orchards and in 2007 we are planning to recover the remaining four". For the village, where half of the population is working abroad, Ion's company provides the needed income and financial motivation to work the fields. September 26, 2006 found many families from Corlateni harvesting their parcels of the plum orchard. The success of Value Chain Drivers like Monicol makes a real impact on the lives of small companies and family farms, bringing them more chances for increased income and stable future. Apart from increasing Monicol's export revenues, there are Moldovan families who have again the financial motivation to work their lands.

After the collaboration with the ADP consultants we changed the organizational structure of the company and at the same time, I have noticed that even the mentality of my employees has changed. They gained confidence in themselves and in their future, they became more responsible with the result that they are more efficient in everything they do.
                                   --Dumitru Vicol, Monicol LTD Director

Photo caption: Galina Guba from Corlateni is back in her orchard with her family, harvesting plums, because this year they have a buyer.