Apple-picking season is underway in Moldova, but Vasile Nitrean, a farmer in Soroca, a northeastern town near the Ukrainian border, says he has “big problems”.

For the past 15 years, he has sold his crop to Russian buyers. Now, because of a Russian ban, he, along with many other farmers in the small eastern European country, needs to find a new market. And fast.

“We will gather [the apples] as we once did to export them to Russia, only this time we will take them and place them in front of the [Moldovan] government [building],” Nitrean said, fuming. The Russian embargo, introduced on 21 July – two weeks before Moscow issued a wider ban on western produce – covers imports of Moldovan apples, plums, peaches and canned fruit. Russia also scrapped duty-free exemptions for 19 categories of Moldovan products.

Moldova is one of Europe’s poorest countries, and its economy relies heavily on its agricultural exports. Moscow’s moves against it are widely seen as retaliation for the country’s decision to sign a free-trade deal and association agreement with the European Union, which Moscow sees as encroaching on its traditional sphere of influence over former-Soviet countries.

Moldova is one of Europe’s poorest countries, and its economy relies heavily on its agricultural exports.

Most of Moldova’s agricultural exports already go to EU members (54%). But Russia, according to one expert study, accounted for the vast majority of exported Moldovan fruit in 2012 (90.6%, or $93.9 million). Overall, in 2013, Russia bought 43% ($988 million) of all Moldova’s agricultural exports.

Finding alternative markets is an economic necessity for Moldova, as well as a political one.

Prime Minister Iurie Leancă has announced government-sponsored measures to promote agricultural exports, including a (largely symbolic) farmers market set up on National Square in the capital, Chișinău, from 27-31 August. A publicity stunt is slated for 30 August, when a massive apple pie, dubbed by the prime minister as “the pie that unites us,” will be baked and consumed.

Leancă has pledged an unspecified amount of compensation from both state and unidentified foreign sources to help farmers make up for lost revenue, as well as assistance for the rescheduling of bank loans, and payment of gas and electricity bills.

Some observers are not holding their breath that the EU can or will come to the rescue

Moldovan canning companies also reportedly agreed to purchase more fruit. The state-subsidised airline, Air Moldova, is slated to start distributing government-purchased apples and other fruit to passengers as an in-flight snack. The government has also allocated roughly $1.44 million (20 million Moldovan leis) to provide Moldovan apples daily to kindergartens, public schools and the army starting on 1 September.

Denis Cenusa, an economic analyst at Chișinău’s Expert Group, an independent think-tank, believes Moscow timed the embargo to weaken support for the government and its EU ambitions ahead of Moldova’s 30 November parliamentary elections. “Russia wants to attract Moldavians against the pro-European government,” said Cenusa.

Calmac stands in his apple orchard in Harbovat, Moldova. Like Nitrean, he is also feeling the pinch of Moscow’s bans on Moldovan produce. Photograph: Vitalie Plotnic/AP Photograph: Vitalie Plotnic/AP

No polling data has yet been published on how the Russian ban has impacted support for the incumbent Moldovan government. But protests have occurred. For example, on 7 August, a three-kilometre-long convoy of angry farmers from the north drove their farm equipment toward Chișinău to highlight their financial plight. Some have demanded that Moldova scrap its free-trade deal with the EU, while others have argued for Moldova and the EU to agree on export prices with Russia. Leancă intercepted the protesters en route to Chișinău, urging them to “put politics aside”.

Although that protest appears contained for now, discontent remains widespread. Iurie Plopa, a farmer from Ocniţa, a northeastern region, claims that the government compensation plan for lost apple sales – amounting to 1.50 lei ($0.11) per kilogram – is minimal, and lower than the two-lei ($0.14) cost of production. “Automatically, we lose money,” he said. “And it’s not enough money to cover loans or pesticides.”

Meanwhile, authorities in the autonomous region of Gagauzia, home to a minority group long wary of the EU, have announced a desire to keep exporting fruit to Russia, and have invited Russian inspectors to come and certify its stock. Governor Mihail Formuzal has announced that the region, which already has an exemption from the Russian embargo on Moldovan wines, wants to establish “personal ties” with Russia.

Automatically, we lose money... it’s not enough to cover loans or pesticides

Keeping the lid on discontent in the countryside may hinge on the EU, which doubled its quota of duty-free imports of Moldovan fruit on 1 August, a month ahead of schedule. Some observers are not holding their breath that Brussels can or will come to the rescue, especially considering Russia’s comprehensive ban of EU produce in early August, that could put the squeeze on EU farmers, creating a glut that increases competition and lowers prices for Moldovan produce.

Many hope neighbouring EU-member Romania, with which Moldova shares strong historical and cultural ties, will lend a helping hand. Deputy Moldovan Agriculture Minister Vladimir Loghin believes that the Romanian market could “absorb at least 20% of the country’s quota for the EU.” According to the prime minister, Romania intends to buy 14,000 tons of Moldovan apples, which would account for 17.5% of Moldova’s EU quota of 80,000 tons. Romania, which has its own sizable agricultural sector, has purchased only three percent of the 20,000-ton quota for plums, however.

While Moldovan fruit quality has improved in recent years, promotion and packaging skills remain a work-in-progress, said Jim Herne, director of the US Agency for International Development-funded Agricultural Competitiveness and Enterprise Development program in Moldova. The need to adapt to EU quality and technical standards poses still another hurdle. “If they wish, for example, to benefit from a request from a European supermarket, they will have to unite and promote their goods as a group,” Herne said.

Victoria Puiu writes for the weekly newspaper Timpul (Times) in Chișinău, Moldova. A version of this article first appeared on EurasiaNet.org