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 it 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. Therefore, monitoring and evaluation represent essential elements of agricultural and rural policies. The aim of the paper is to present an example of the practical and operational policy monitoring tool (survey and indicators) for assessing the short-term efficiency of subsidies in Moldova. The tool is based on the use of non-representative survey performed once or two times per year in order to inform decision makers about the impacts of the subsidies on farm performance in terms of productivity, production, employment, size, but also the opportunity to obtain the feedback from subsidies recipients. The survey is intended for beneficiaries of all categories of subsidies, thus being useful for midterm review of budget support. The results of the first-time implementation of the tool 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 policy monitoring tool 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.