Romania will be
\nable to spend 80 million euros to support farmers affected by the COVID-19
\ncrisis, after European fora have accepted our country’s request to employ
\nunused funds allotted under the European agricultural fund for rural
\ndevelopment (EAFRD) to this end, Agriculture Minister Adrian Oros has said.
\nAssistance will cap at 5,000 euros for individual farmers and at 50,000 euros
\nfor food processors. The assistance adds to the national bailout plans for
\nfarmers affected by the drought. The Government plans to create a fund for
\nloans and guarantees, as well as support for the payment of day workers, which
\nis meant to help producers, Minister Oros told Radio Romania. The Romanian
\nofficial claims over a million hectares of farmland are affected by drought
\nthis year, the areas facing the most problems being in the south-east and
\nnorth-east. The Minister has nonetheless given assurances that the state has
\nenough reserves to cover the domestic food demand. As regards the evolution of
\nbasic foodstuffs, Adrian Oros said:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I cannot make
\nan estimate right now. For instance, prices for a number of products are low,
\nbecause retailers are overstocked. We can’t say exactly where things are
\nheaded, what the autumn harvest will look like, how long this crisis will last
\nand the extent to which it will impact the economic performance of farmers and
\nfood companies. So far there are only a few fields affected by the crisis. If
\nwe recover within a month and resume production, consumption will go up as well
\nand the relations between consumers, producers, processors and retailers will
\nreturn to normal, so we might not report too many losses. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Minister Oros
\nalso pointed out that even in the grimmest scenarios referring to the effects
\nof the drought this year, this autumn’s harvest will cover the entire domestic
\nconsumption of cereals. The Romanian official went on to say the Government is
\nconsidering the possibility of halting exports of basic products, if the
\nsituation requires it. Adrian Oros:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We are certain
\nwe have enough cereal reserves to last us until the new harvest, then we will
\nmake sure we have enough cereals in our granaries across the country to cover
\nthe daily consumption of Romanian citizens. If the situation demands it, we
\nwill cease certain exports, a measure we have used before.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to
\ndata provided by the Environment Ministry in Bucharest, April, 2020 was the
\ndriest month on record, exceeding the record set in 2007. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by
\nV. Palcu)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The coronavirus crisis and the drought might impact the price of foodstuffs, Romanian Minister for Agriculture, Adriana Oros, has said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":85686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[39964,39963,29163,39961,39962],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-85685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-agriculture-minister-adrian-oros","tag-cereal-reserves","tag-drought","tag-european-assistance","tag-romanian-farmers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n