VALUE-ADDED AGRICULTURE IN THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA – INCREASING THE EXPORT POTENTIAL AND INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 25 ISSUE 2Written by Alexandru STRATAN, Eugenia LUCASENCO, Vasilii SAKOVICI The paper analyses the sub-sectors of the Moldovan agriculture with a potential to transform into high value-added, in terms of production, processing and exports. The Moldovan agri-food sector is still relying on the production and export of raw material, rather that processed products. The low value-added level of agri-food exports determines the country’s specialization and hinders its transformation process. The methods approached during the research are based on the quantitative analysis of production and foreign trade of value-added products. At the same time, the qualitative approach with respect to analysis of export potential and estimation of the degree of competitiveness through the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) indicator has been also used. The obtained results revealed that the Republic of Moldova has the necessary prerequisites for enhancing its export potential of value-added products, as the primary agriculture is already developed and additional efforts are required. The agricultural policy should set the main directions for enhancing the value-added agriculture, particularly: support for increasing the quality of products and for processing industry, promotion of by-products, support for new varieties and sub-sectors of the agricultural system and enhancing the synergy among producers and processors.
Stratan et al. (Wed,) studied this question.