Neglecting your land? Expect a fine of 50 Euros per hectare!

Land owners that don"t maintain their land run the risk of being fined, starting next year, with 50 Euros/hectare, officials sources said for "BURSA".

The officials, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "It was proposed that the fine for lands that aren"t maintained would be set somewhere between 40 to 50 Euros, or about half of the value of the subsidy per hectare that will be paid out to farmers in 2011 from European grants. The draft bill which introduces this penalty is now being reviewed by the advisors of the prime-minister. At the moment, simulations are being run, impact studies, but the goal is to pass the law by the end of the year and to have it come into effect in 2011".

The fines would be levied on individuals, private and state-owned companies, and its goal is to help reduce the surface of uncultivated lands for which their owners receive subsidies.

• The state expects to make about 100 million Euros

According to some estimates, about 2 million hectares of land are being neglected, out of a total of 14.7 million hectares of farmable land. The state stands to make about 100 million Euros by introducing this fine.

The Minister of Agriculture, Valeriu Tabără, recently said, in an interview for BURSA, that the fine is needed as the neglected lands pose a threat to the crops of the plots of land that are being used for production.

Valeriu Tabără explained: "It is not a tax on land that is not being used for farming, I never said anything of the kind. A tax is a different thing, and what this represents is a penalty tax for land that is not maintained - I think it would be a more accurate term. No one can force anybody to work their land! But you can force them to clean up their land, make sure its free of weeds, and it is not a source of diseases and pests that can affect other plots of farmed land. The Law on Agricultural Real Estate does provide penalties, but it was never implemented. The amount of that penalty should be updated. One of the alternatives discussed was to have it equal to the subsidy that a land owner would receive from European grants. I can"t tell you exactly how big it will be, the law is still being reviewed by the advisors to the PM".

• Farmers warn: "We run the risk of losing European funds"

Daniel Botanoiu, managing director of the National Federation of Romanian Farmers, considers that the introduction of a fine for unlabored farmable land would be "a double edged sword", since it could cause Romania to lose European grants.

Daniel Botanoiu explained: "The penalty is a double edged sword because today we have about 3 million hectares of unlabored land, but we don"t how much of that is maintained. If we penalize these areas, then they will by default no longer qualify for European subsidies per hectarea. This will mean that the plots which get penalized do not meet the agricultural and environmental requirements of the EU that they need to qualify for in order to receive the subsidies. It is a tough decision that needs to be given a lot of thought. We run the risk of receiving less European subsidies and leave money on the table for other EU members countries".