Romanian Agriculture

Good news for farmers in Romania, who will receive 210 euros per hectare of farmland if they own between 5 and 30 hectares.

România Internațional, 25.09.2014, 14:30

Corn, wheat and sunflower outputs over the last period have put Romania at the top of the EU’s list, while our country’s rapeseed harvests have hit an all-time high. Introduced only in recent years, rapeseed crops currently account for 450,000 hectares of farmland, while 80% of production is export-bound, used particularly in the production of bio-fuels. Experts say Romania has the potential of becoming Europe’s “granary” once again, provided the agriculture sector continues to support national economy. Here is what Agriculture Minister Daniel Constantin told Radio Romania:

Daniel Constantin: “Last year agriculture accounted for 1.5 to nearly 1.7% of Romania’s overall 4% economic growth. This was particularly due to a bumper crop and to an increase in exports. But we can fare better than this, because so far we’ve been exporting raw materials only. If we take a look at the first half of 2014, if we manage to process and export the added value, we may have higher incomes for farmers and bigger revenues to the state budget. This will entail a larger profit for the same output”.

The new national programme for rural development for the 2014-2020 period focuses primarily on increasing farm production. Minister Daniel Constantin explains:

“Romania has the largest corn farmland in Europe, and probably also ranks first in terms of its corn output, but our yield is somewhere between 4 and 4.5 tonnes per hectare, which is not the best in Europe. Although very large, corn farmland is unfortunately fragmented into very small plots of land, up to 5 hectares”.

As of next year farmers owning between 5 and 30 hectares will get higher subsidies, from both EU funds and the state budget, of 210 euros per hectare. The measure is aimed at encouraging the clustering of farmland, so as to allow people who own smaller plots of farmland to join efforts so as to get higher subsidies. As regards state support for cultivating Romanian varieties of vegetables, the Ministry of Agriculture has announced more subsidies are pending the approval of the European Commission. Solar farmers are due to receive subsidies worth 3,000 euros per hectare, while greenhouse farmers will get 6,000 euros per hectare.