The Agricultural Development Project for Gagauzia aimed to introduce an agricultural machinery pool in Gagauzia, which could later be expanded to other regions of Moldova. This concept, successful in Austria and Germany for over 50 years, allows farmers to access modern machinery through affordable rentals rather than purchasing expensive equipment. The project targets small, under-mechanized farms in Gagauzia, where 87% of farms are smaller than 20 hectares. The machinery pool would provide modern equipment and handle maintenance, easing financial burdens for small-scale farmers.

The project concept included two main components: the machinery pool and capacity-building efforts. The machinery pool provided equipment for grassland management, crop farming, and irrigation, covering 2,500 hectares of farmland and 1,000-1,500 hectares of grassland. The equipment was high-quality, durable, and designed for modern farming techniques like reduced tillage. The second component focused on training, with initial training provided by suppliers and a “train-the-trainer” approach for long-term knowledge transfer on organizational structure and equipment maintenance.

The organizational model was based on successful European machinery pools, with Gagauzia’s administration overseeing the project’s implementation in line with Moldovan law.