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Moldova faces empty shelves and lack of food as the only European country listed as critical in a new UN study on food shortages

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - With African levels of poverty and increasing government mismanagement, Moldova today faces a severe food shortage. According to the United Nations, Moldova is the only European state on a list of 37 countries worldwide with drastic hunger problems.

The just-released ranking by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reveals that a total of 37 out of the world's 200 countries face serious food crises. More than 24 of these countries are in Africa, eight are in Asia, five in Latin America, and only one in Europe: Moldova.

Moldova is listed by the United Nations in the same category as the problem states of Somalia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland and Iraq. In all of these cases, FAO warns of a severe shortage of foodstuffs and notes that foreign aid is necessary in order to save the lives of the most vulnerable parts of the population.

Warnings of economic meltdown

Despite its zero population growth rate, Moldova, a former Soviet socialist republic, faces not just a food shortage but a general economic meltdown.

A recent BBC video feature showed scenes in Moldova of entire villages with only grandparents and grandchildren left. The parents are all working in Russia or Western Europe, most of them as illegal immigrants. It is estimated that up to a third of Moldova's population has already fled the country, leaving mostly children and the non-working elderly behind. Approximately half of the country's able bodied working-age citizens now live abroad.

Moldova is the only European country which faces a severe food problem even though it was known less than twenty years ago as the most lush and agricultural region of the Soviet Union. In 1991, Moldova declared independence. One year earlier, Pridnestrovie (also known as Transnistria or Transnistria) had done the same.

In Pridnestrovie, an increase world food prices has caused a jump in inflation to 10.7% for the year, the unrecognized country's Ministry of Economy reported on Thursday. Nevertheless, stores are well stocked and the country is able to feed itself through what is mostly local production of grains, meat and vegetables. Unlike in Moldova, the situation in Pridnestrovie is under control and Pridnestrovie's monthly consumer price inflation slowed to 2.85% in March from 3.3% in February.

See also:
» Moldova among most corrupt nations, says watchdog [1]
» Misery index in Moldova hits all-time high; "Don't force us to be part of their mess" says PMR [2]
» Moldova falling apart as corruption, poverty force half the country to leave [3]

Opinion and commentary:
» Half of Moldova's workers have left the country [4]