CRISTIAN PÂRVAN, AOAR: "The energy potential of agriculture, capable of replacing the dependence on diesel fuel"

Agriculture has extraordinary energy reserves, such as biodiesel, which, in the future, will be able to eliminate the dependency on diesel oil, said Cristian Pârvan, the secretary general of the Association of Romanian Businesspeople (AOAR). In his opinion, the agricultural sector also has a huge potential for added value, that is as of yet untapped.

Cristian Pârvan said: "Between 1990 and 2011, we've had an added value of 1.5 billion Euros in agriculture, but that is a very small amount. The competition on the agricultural market is extremely tough, and producers and retailers have to constantly adapt. Research and technological development in agriculture have seen an amazing evolution".

The representative of the business sector has reminded of the biomass plan, as an energy resource, drawn up by the Ministry of the Economy together with the Dutch Environmental Agency and says that the document in question is still gathering dust in the drawers of the Ministry.

Cristian Pârvan claims that farmers that have a 1,000 hectare farm, whether they are part of an association or operating individually, can produce their own fuel for the agricultural works, without being dependent on fuel and diesel oil anymore, but the project was not taken into consideration.

He said: "Nobody is thinking of the fields and of setting up protective forest curtains. We have a National Institute of Research on Agricultural Machines, which has automated machines for forest curtains. With a certain type of energy plantation, which can be cut every 2-3 years, we can make wood pellets and use them for heating".

The representative of the business sector advised the Minister of Agriculture, Daniel Constantin, to launch, starting next year, the "Prima seră" (ed. note: First Greenhouse) program, which would rebuild 2,000 hectares of greenhouses and have them heated with biomass or geothermal water: "We have installations with a Romanian patent and Romanian manufacturers that supply equipment to foreign customers. We currently only have one greenhouses heated with geothermal water in the county of Bihor. We have resources that we are not using in every area of the country. Attempts are currently being made at producing biogel, a fuel that would be used in aviation".

Mr. Pârvan emphasized the fact that the added value in agriculture is far greater than that of the automotive and car parts industries, because 90% of the state aids have gone to agriculture, and these results are visible.

The secretary general of the AOAR considers that, even though agriculture is a strategic sector, European countries do not base their economic development on agriculture, but rather, on research and technological development.

In closing, Cristian Pârvan said that Romanian farmers are disadvantaged by the subsidies set by the European Commission and that they need to come up with solutions to survive on the agricultural market.