Agriculture in Romania

Agricultural fields in Călărași County
Farmers working in Transylvania

Romania has an agricultural capacity of approximately 14.7 million hectares (57,000 sq mi) 9.38 million are used as arable land.[1] In 2008, an evaluation revealed that 6.8 million hectares are not used.[2] In 2018, Romania was the third biggest agricultural producer of the EU and produced the largest amount of maize.[3]

Agriculture summed up about 4.3% of GDP in 2019, down from 12.6% in 2004.[4] As of 2017, 25.8% of the Romanian workforce is employed in agriculture, compared to an EU average of 4.4%.[5] As of 2016, only 1.6% of Romanian farmers were recipients of tertiary education, compared to an 8.9% EU average.[5]

Mechanization is comparatively poor, with one tractor available for every 54 hectares, while the EU average is one tractor for every 13 hectares.[6] Approximately 170,000 tractors exist in Romania, of which about 80% are aging or obsolete.[6] In many regions of the country, farmers still use horse-drawn agriculture tools and rely on animal power. Unlike Western Europe, where tractors are replaced after 3,000-4,000 hours of use, in Romania they sometimes last up to 12,000 hours.[6]

The main problems encountered by Romanian agriculturists are a lack of major investments in agriculture, due to difficulty in accessing available funds, fragmentation and erosion of soil, property-related lawsuits and obsolete technology. Several major companies have entered the Romanian market, including Smithfield Foods, Cargill, Bunge, Glencore, Lactalis, and Meggle AG. These companies have since invested hundreds of millions of euros in Romania.

  1. ^ Unnamed (28 March 2016). "Investing in Romania". Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  2. ^ 6,8 milioane de hectare agricole nu sunt lucrate[permanent dead link], standard.ro, Retrieved 6 May 2009
  3. ^ "Record year for agriculture in 2018: Romania ranks first in EU for maize and sunflower production". 14 January 2019.
  4. ^ "Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) – Romania | Data".
  5. ^ a b "Farmers in the EU – statistics – Statistics Explained". Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Chinezii încep producţia de tractoare la Râşnov Archived 13 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine, standard.ro, Retrieved 11 September 2009