How big the market is
Agriculture is Moldova’s third-largest sector by number of small and medium-sized companies. For 2025, 6,460 companies in agriculture, forestry and fishing filed financial statements, with 38,831 employees and sales revenue of 32.9 billion lei. Almost all of them grow crops or raise livestock: 6,298 companies, of which 5,461 have fewer than ten employees. Forestry has 62 companies and 3,766 employees, and fishing and aquaculture 100 companies and 262 employees.
The average gross wage in agriculture, forestry and fishing was 10,776 lei in the fourth quarter of 2025, and 13,672 lei in forestry. The average for the whole economy in the same quarter was 16,355 lei.
Which permits apply instead of a licence
Farming requires no licence, and working the fields needs no permit. Permits come with the activity:
- a livestock farm operates under the sanitary-veterinary operating authorisation, while an apiary or a fish farm operates under a sanitary-veterinary registration, both from the National Food Safety Agency;
- storing, sorting and packing grain, fruit, vegetables and nuts, exporting them and organic farming require the food safety registration certificate, which costs 150 lei;
- a vehicle that carries live animals needs its own sanitary-veterinary authorisation, which costs 150 lei and is valid for three years;
- plant protection products may only be kept in a specialised warehouse, notified to ANSA at least 15 working days before work starts, and the people who handle them must undergo a medical examination;
- for exports of plants and plant products, ANSA issues a phytosanitary certificate, free of charge and valid for 14 days.
Forests, fishing and ponds fall under the Environment Agency, and vineyards under the National Office of Vine and Wine.
Land: ownership and leases
Land is either bought or leased. Since 2019, agricultural leases have been governed by the Civil Code. The contract is made in writing, for at least one year and at most 30 years, and for an orchard or a vineyard the term is at least 25 years unless the parties agree otherwise. Rent is paid in money, in produce or in both, and produce is valued at no more than the local market price.
Within three months of signing, the tenant records a lease longer than five years in the real estate register and registers a shorter one with the town hall of the locality where the land is. If the tenant fails to do so, the lease cannot be relied on against third parties, and the owner may terminate the contract. The tenant has a right of first refusal if the owner sells the land.
A company with a foreign founder, director, beneficial owner or capital cannot buy agricultural or forest land, and the purchase contract would be void. The Land Code ban concerns acquiring ownership of the land, not leasing it. Other real estate, which a company with foreign capital can also buy, is covered on the real estate agency page.
Agricultural land with buildings on it is taxed at no less than 0.1% of the tax base, at the rate approved by the local council. For agricultural land left uncultivated two years in a row, the local council may increase the tax up to 300%, from the third year onwards.
Crops and vineyards
Growing crops needs no permit. What matters is what you do with the harvest: a grain store, a cold store for fruit or a sorting and packing line is registered with ANSA, and small producers of fruit, nuts, potatoes and vegetables register for the production itself.
Vineyards have their own register
Vineyards are recorded in the Vine and Wine Register, kept by the National Office of Vine and Wine. Within 30 days of planting, replanting, grubbing up or selling a vineyard, its holder applies to have the plantation entered or its details changed. A commercial vineyard larger than 0.5 ha must be planted according to a project drawn up by a design office, within the demarcated wine-growing area. Wine may only be made from Vitis vinifera varieties or crosses of it, listed in the Catalogue of Plant Varieties or the European Union’s common catalogue. Noah, Othello, Isabelle, Clinton and the other direct-producer hybrids, as well as Vitis labrusca varieties, are banned for wine production.
A young vineyard is recorded in its first growing season and becomes a bearing vineyard after its fourth year. Every year, grape growers file a harvest declaration by 1 December. Making wine is not farming: it has code 11.02 and its own rules, set out on the page about food, beverages and tobacco.
Livestock
A livestock farm needs its sanitary-veterinary authorisation before its first working day. ANSA inspects the farm on site against a checklist, and the authorisation is issued within 20 working days at most. Farms that export are authorised by the agency’s head office. Pigs may not be raised in forest rangers’ lodges or in zones that ANSA designates as high-risk for category A diseases.
Every animal is identified and registered in the State Animal Register: cattle get two ear tags and an individual passport, free of charge; sheep, goats and pigs get one ear tag; horses get a transponder. The deadline is 20 days from birth, or up to 60 days for piglets, lambs and kids. The purchase, sale, death or slaughter of an animal must be reported to ANSA within seven days, and unidentified animals may not leave the farm. From 13 November 2026, bees are registered in the “BeeProtect” system on the basis of the apiary passport, and poultry and rabbit farms update their stock at least once a week.
Forestry
Forest land may belong to the state, to local authorities or to private owners. State forests are managed by the institution responsible for forestry, and municipal ones by the town halls, directly or through specialised providers. Neither can be granted under a concession. A private company gets access to them in three ways: it buys the right to harvest timber at auction, it is granted forest land for use for one year at most, for harvesting, grazing or beehives, or it provides forestry services under a contract.
The owner of a private forest works to a forest management plan drawn up by a specialist company, guards and regenerates the forest, and fells timber only after the environmental authority has assessed it and authorised the felling sites. The sale of a forest is reported to the local forestry office within 60 days. The owner can hand the forest’s management to a specialist company under a contract, notifying the town hall and the environmental authority within 30 days.
Timber is tracked from the felling site to first processing through the timber tracking information system, and may only be transported with documents proving its origin. The Environmental Protection Inspectorate seizes timber without documents, and a carrier must refuse to load it. Grazing goats, sheep and pigs in forests is banned.
Fishing and aquaculture
Commercial fishing is only allowed in the river and lake sectors the Environment Agency approves each year, with seine nets, trammel nets, gill nets and fyke nets whose mesh sizes meet the legal limits. Nets may not take up more than two thirds of a river’s width, and baiting is banned. Only the quota holder’s employed fishers may fish, each with their own permit.
A fish farm needs no quota. The company is operating legally if fish farming is among its registered activities, it owns or has the use of a purpose-built fish pond and it meets the environmental and sanitary-veterinary requirements. Fish pond land belongs to the water fund, and a pond’s use can only be changed with the consent of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Subsidies
Farm support comes from the National Fund for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas and is paid by the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture. Since 2026 it has been granted under Law no. 126/2025, for the interventions in the strategic programme the Government approves for five years, while Law no. 71/2023 still applies to projects started earlier. Calls are announced in the Official Gazette at least 20 days in advance and run for 30 to 90 days. Apply preferably online, to the agency’s office for the area where the farm is. Late applications are rejected, and the procedure ends within 90 days of the call closing.
An investment completed before the agency approves the project does not qualify for support, except for direct payments and a few interventions named in the law. Nor do companies whose founders, directors or beneficial owners are registered in jurisdictions that do not apply international transparency standards. The state pays no subsidies for unidentified animals.
In farming, an individual can only work on their own account as a peasant farm (gospodărie țărănească): the law does not allow an individual enterprise here, and no farming class is on the list of activities open to independent entrepreneurs. A peasant farm is registered with the Public Services Agency in the area where the founder’s land is, pays 7% income tax and can pay its annual tax in two instalments, a quarter by 25 September and the rest by 25 December. The founder must own land privately, only members of the founder’s family can be members, their work must make up more than half of the farm’s work, and all of them are liable for its debts with everything they own.
An SRL pays 12% but is subject to none of these conditions, is liable only with the company’s assets and is the form a foreign investor can use too. Paying the tax in two instalments, by 25 September and by 25 December, is open to agricultural companies as well, not only to peasant farms.
We handle the choice of CAEM codes, the articles of association, the filing at the Public Services Agency and the opening of the bank account. For a farm, we prepare the application for the sanitary-veterinary authorisation or the ANSA certificate, subsidy applications to the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture and export paperwork, and for a foreign company entering the market we register the Moldovan company. We can take over the accounting, including withholding the 6% tax on purchases from individuals, from the first month. What each service includes is set out on the corporate services page.
