Agricultural Pollution Control

Project of Moldova: the progress made

Regional Conference on Integrated Nutrient Pollution Control in the Danube-Black Sea Basin

October 23-25, 2007, Ankara, Turkey.

Dr. A. Jolondcovschi- Project Manager, Silvia Pana-Carp – Project Assistant

Project objective and componentsThe ultimate goal is to reduce the discharge of nutrients into the Danube River andBlack Sea through integrated land and water management.

The following are the project Components:Promotion of mitigation measures to reduce nutrient run-offs into water objectives: o Award GEF mitigation grants to eligible applicants from the RISP Special Credit Line;o Manure management ; o Promote environment-friendly agricultural practices;o Plant forest vegetation;o Restore wetlands;o Monitor water and soil quality.Strengthening of national policy and regulation capacity in the field:o Identify gaps in the national legislation pertaining to agricultural pollution control;o Make comparative analysis between national regulations and of EU, especially Nitrates

Directive;o Draw up a Code of Good Agricultural Practices.Public awareness and replication strategy:o Develop a public awareness campaign and training for the population and stakeholders from the

pilot area, who will ensure support for the project interventions;o Replicate results at pilot area and country level.Project administration

Project scope

At the country level, the Project is being implemented in close association with the Rural Investments and Services Project (RISP), financed by IDA, which assists Moldova in increasing the profit level and improving living conditions in rural areas, via promotion of entrepreneurship in agro-industrial sector, raising of agricultural production, broadening of economic activities and trade development. APCP offers grants to agro-industries, cooperatives, individual and farmers’ associations to cover incremental costs related to mitigation measures for reducing nutrient load into water. Granting is done based on some eligibility criteria established jointly with all interested parties.

In the pilot area, which includes a part of the Prut River tributary, an integrated soil and water management plan, for reducing and fighting nutrient pollution, has been developed. The Plan is designed for Lapusna Watershed.

APCP/RISP Synergy

To date a total of 93 sub-projects receiving RISP credits have been selected for APCP funding of environmental mitigation measures. The GEF grant funds committed in 2004 – 2007 for these mitigation measures total about US$2.5 million. Of the total of 93 sub-projects approved to date, 59 are for livestock enterprises, 27 for crop production/irrigation and 7 for agro-industry. The following mitigation measures were financed: - manure storage and handling facilities;- waste waters treatment plant;- storage sheds for agro-processing wastes;- agronomic measures, such as conservation tillage, shelterbelts, buffer strips etc. - irrigation systems.

The total storage capacity of the manure platforms built under this synergy represented almost 30,000 cub.m. and 6 ha of degradated lands were restored. Additionally, the total area of vegetative filter strips installed under this sub-component amounted to 166 ha and the area intended for irrigation -825 ha.

There are no more funds available under this sub-components though the demand for Environmental Mitigation Grants is still high.

MANURE STORAGE FACILITY

FOR THE CATTLE FARM

WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT(under construction)

OIL PROCESSINGFACTORY

STORAGE SHEDS FOR AGRO-PROCESSING WASTES (under onstruction)

DRIP IRRIGATION VEGETATIVE FILTER STRIPS SHELTERBELT

Manure management Of three manure management

systems installed in the pilot area, one, in the Negrea comuna, is managed by the Mayoralty, the other two, in Carpineni and Lapusnia, by private companies, on a

concession basis. As much as 9,600 cub. m. have

been accumulated at communal storage platforms in the pilot area.

Out of this 350 cub. m. were sold to private companies and the other amount was applied onto lands.

MANURE STORAGE PLATFORM IN NEGREA

MANURE STORAGE PLATFORM IN NEGREA FOR TRAINING PURPOSE

Promotion of environment-friendly agricultural practices

Under the Project there are several Programs intended to promote environment-friendly agricultural practices: - Program for testing/demonstrating environment-friendly

agricultural practices implemented in collaboration with the Soil Institute in the pilot area;

- Program for demonstrating environment-friendly agricultural practices implemented in collaboration with the Agency for Consultancy and Schooling in Agriculture (an extension service established under RISP) at the national level;

- Publication of the Code of Good Agricultural Practices.

Promotion of environment-friendly agricultural practices in the pilot area

In the Project pilot area two villages, Pascani and Negrea, were selected for promotion of environment-friendly agricultural practices.

Negrea– for testing/demonstration and monitoring purposes, and Pascani, only for testing/demonstration purpose.

This year 8 such practices were established in Negrea and 4 in Pascani.

s. Stolniceni

s. Ivanovca

s. Cotul-Morii

s. Leu[eni

s. C=\=lenis. Nem\eni

s. Frasin

s. Coste[ti

s. Drojdieni

s. Bujor

s. L=pu[na

s. Corne[ti

s. Boghiceni

s. Chetro[enis. Pa[cani

r. P

rut

s. Tochile-R=ducani

s. S=rata-Reze[i

s. Mingir

s. Cioara

s. Pog=ne[ti

s. Bratianovcas. Horje[ti

s. C=rpineni

s. Negrea

s. B=lceana

s. Pervomaiscoe

s. Sofias. Crasnoarmeiscoe

s. One[ti

s. Obileni

s. Mire[ti 910

11

12

78

13 24

56

13

D

s. S=rata-Galben=

s. S=rata-Mare

Scale 1:130000

(com. Negrea)

(com. Negrea)

(com Negrea)

practici cu scop demonstrativ

practici cu scop de testare / demonstrare1

(com. Tochile-R=ducan])

(com. Pa[cani)

(com. Negrea)

2

1

2

3

4

5

6

8

9

10

11

12

13

7

Lac 1-lucr=ri agrotehnice de conservare

Lac 2-lucr=ri agrotehnice de conservare ]n vii

Rc1@Rr1-rota\ia culturilor @ leguminoase ]n rota\ie

Ccf1-cultivarea culturilor ]n f`[ii pe versan\i

Mn1-managementul nutrien\ilor (com. Negrea)

Mn2-managementul nutrien\ilor (com. Negrea)

}cs1-]nierbarea canalelor de scurgere (com. Negrea)

Bc1-benzi de centur= (com. Negrea)

Lac3-lucr=ri agrotehnice de conservare ]n vii (com. Pa[cani)

Ccf2-cultivarea culturilor ]n f`[ii pe versan\i

}cs2-]nierbarea canalelor de scurgere (com. Pa[cani)

Bc2-benzi de centur= (com. Pa[cani)

Mp1-managementul p=[unatului

PROJECTED

practices with the aim of testing / demonstration

practices with the aim of demonstration

Ct1 (conservation tillage)

Ct2 (conservation tillage)

Cr1@Lr1 (crop rotation @ legumes rotation)

Sc1 (strip cropping)

Nm1 (nutrients management)

Nm2 (nutrients management)

Gw1 (grassed waterways)

Bs1 (buffer strip)

Ct3 (conservation tillage)

Sc2 (strip cropping)

Gw2 (grassed waterways)

Bs2 (buffer strip)

Glm1 (grazing land management)

1

2

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

PROIECTATE

s. Voinescu

LEGEND River

Lake

Existent forests

Village

NEGREA

PASCANI

Promotion of environment-friendly agricultural practices in the pilot area (cont.)

CROP ROTATION

STRIP CROPPING CONTOUR PLOWING

BUFFER STRIP AND VINEYARD COVER CROPPING

VEGETATIVE BUFFER

Promotion of environment-friendly agricultural practices in the pilot area (cont.)

The monitoring and data analysis demonstrated that agronomic measures applied on treated fields reduced soil erosion by 33-51% and run-offs by 17-52% when compared with the control plots. Consequently, these can decrease nitrogen losses by 11-53% and phosphorus by 20-47%.

Additionally, nutrient losses by run-offs are 1.6 - 2.8 timesless when sowing cover crops between vine rows. Further experiments showed that using 80 t/ha of manure on lands could increase corn yield by 32.4%.

Promotion of environment-friendly agricultural practices at the national level

A train-the-trainer approach was used to train 360 service providers of the Agency for Consultancy and Schooling in Agriculture (ACSA) from around the country. For this purpose three demonstration plots with good agricultural practices were established in the three regions of Moldova. Under the same contract, a handbook on environment-friendly agricultural practices was published to be disseminated among ACSA service providers. Similarly, each ACSA service provider received a Code of Good Agricultural Practices and appropriate information on the Code.

Promotion of environment-friendly agricultural practices

These efforts resulted in:

8,250 farmers from both project pilot area and other regions of Moldova that adopted at least one environment-friendly agricultural practice promoted by the project implemented on as much as 14,028 ha of land in total.

Water Quality Monitoring Program: approach used

The Project applies paired-watersheds and upstream-downstream water quality monitoring approaches.

As regards to surface water quality monitoring, in total there are 8 water monitoring sites, 6 along the main course of the river and 2 on tributaries. Of the 6 located on the main course 3 are in the background zone and three in the control and treated areas.

As to underground water quality monitoring, 17 shallow wells were chosen for water sampling, 9 in the treated area and 8 in the control area.

Background zone

Control zone

Treated zone

Background zone

Control zone

Treated zone

0

0-1

SB1

SC2

STC6

ST3STT7

SD4

Water Quality Monitoring Program: sampling frequency and parameters

Sampling frequency: monthly, bi-monthly, seasonal and by event for surface water; and, quarterly for underground water.Parameters to be monitored: Primary variables (N-NH4, N-NO2, N-NO3, P-PO4, TKN, and TP) and

secondary variables (Coliform bacteria, Total Number of Microbes, TSS, and BOD5) for surface water; and,

Nitrogen compounds (N-NH4, N-NO2, N-NO3 and TKN), phosphorus compounds (P-PO4 and TP) and bacteriology (Coliform bacteria, Total Number of Microbes for underground water.

Additionally, for hydrology: water flow, water level, water velocity;and meteorology: temperature, precipitation rate, winds,

heavy rainfalls.

Water Quality Monitoring Program: Ptotal, reporting period 2004 - 2007

Dinamica concentraţiilor medii ale P-total a rîurilor Lapuşniţa, Belcianca, Negrea pentru anii 2004-2007

0,00

0,50

1,00

1,50

2,00

2,50

2004 2005 2006 2007

mg

P/d

mc

O-1

O

STT7

STC6

SD4

ST3

SC2

SB1

Ptotal in the Lapusnita river and Balceana and Negrea tributaries, 2004- 2007

,

Water Quality Monitoring Program: N-N03, reporting period 2004-2007

Dinamica concentraţiilor medii ale N-NO3 a rîurilor Lapuşniţa, Belcianca, Negrea

pentru anii 2004-2007

0,00

10,00

20,00

30,00

40,00

50,00

60,00

70,00

80,00

90,00

2004 2005 2006 2007

mg

N/d

mc

O-1

O

STT7

STC6

SD4

ST3

SC2

SB1

CMA=9mgN/dmc

N-NO3 in the Lapusnita river and Balceana and Negrea tributaries, 2004- 2007

Water Quality Monitoring Program: CBO5, reporting period 2004-2007

0,00

1,00

2,00

3,00

4,00

5,00

6,00

mg

/dm

c

2004 2005 2006 2007

Dinamica concentraţiilor medii ale CBO5 a rîurilor Lapuşniţa, Belcianca, Neagra

pentru anii 2004-2007

SB1

SC2

ST3

SD4

STC6

STT7

O

O-1

CMA=3mg/dmc

CBO5 in the Lapusnita river and Balceana and Negrea tributaries, 2004- 2007

Strengthening of national policy and regulation capacity in the field Organic farming issue: At the end of 2003, the Project conducted a study to serve as a starting point for promotion

of organic farming in Moldova.As a follow up to this: the Law on Organic farming has been adopted followed by 4 normative acts; a Competent authority designated; and, a Certifying and Inspection body established.Today, we have 150 enterprises registered as organic, including 27 in conversion, exporting

organic sunflower oil, honey, dried and frozen fruits, table grapes and wine. The total area registered as organic is 15,500 ha of land, including 3,700 in conversion.

Code of Good Agricultural Practices The CGAP was published in July 2007 in an edition of 500 copies and disseminated among

extension people, farmers and mayoralties.

Few key factors to be looked at while implementing BMPs for reducing nutrient pollution- local communities should be involved at each stage of this exercise;- when conducting public awareness campaigns the issue should be

approached through economic, health and environmental perspectives;

- such programs should provide a water quality simulation model as this helps extend the findings to the other watersheds;

- by minimizing the loss of land we safeguard the environment and meet the needs of the present generation, without compromising those of the future generation;

We all are part of the problem, therefore we all must be part of solution (Dr. Thomas W. Simpson).

-

WB/GEF Agricultural Pollution Control Project

9 Cosmonautilot Str., of. 520,

Chisinau, MD-2005,

Republic of Moldova

tel/fax: +373 22 224187, 221586

e-mail: alexjol@capmu.md; spana-carp@capmu.md

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!