Romania imports "half of the necessary of vegetables"

In a country with a well known, even evoked potential in the agricultural field, but with poor results, the main problem remains the fragmentation of parcels which reduces productivity and discourages investments.

The BCR economists presented on Monday a report on agriculture.

Agriculture has provided a quite fragile support In terms of economic growth in the last ten years compared to its share in GDP, mainly due to the high dependence on weather conditions and low investments – it is shown in the report "Romania’s huge potential yet waiting to be unleashed" conducted by the BCR – Research.

The document also shows that the price of corn has increased with 200 per cent in the last five years and that in general the price of agro-food are increasing while the world population could reach in 2050 9 billion people.

There is a reason why agriculture is a good area for investments, the BCR experts also added.

Romania joined the World To 10 in corn production in 2010.

As regards potatoes, Romania comes third in Europe in terms of cultivated area, but the productivity is far behind other European countries.

50 percent of the necessary in vegetables imported by our country

In July the inflation dropped with 0.3 per cent compared to June, following the reduction of volatile products, vegetables, fruit, potatoes, the share of agro-food in the consumer price index is 37 per cent in our country, which causes inflation to be sensitive to volatile prices evolution.

We should not count too much on the fact that the trend for volatile prices in the sense of their decrease can be easily kept.

"Also because of our living standards the agro-food products have a very high share in the structure of our daily basket, but we should not look only to this month, but also farther in the past on increases, as they were quite substantial."

"At some point the agro-food products had increases of 5 per cent in the first five months, after which, obviously, followed that correction that we all enjoyed, but the volatility of the prices of agro-food products generates a higher volatility of the inflation in Romania compared to other countries."

"We need to invest in agriculture. Before the accession to the euro zone, we will probably be obliged to have an agricultural system that would reduce as much as possible such volatilities", explained the chief economist of the BCR, Lucian Anghel.

The absorption of EU funds is an opportunity especially for big operators while subsistence farms need first to consolidate surfaces through merger, in order to gain access to UE funds, to state funds schemes, banking products and other opportunities that the market economy provides, also added the chief economist of BCR, Lucian Anghel.

Translated by: Manuela Stancu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University