Romania Uses Only 14% Of Agricultural Land, Food Prices Set To Grow

The autumn sowing works are almost completed and the optimum period for sowing most of the agricultural plants is over. However, the balance for this season is rather grim. Of the 9.4 million hectares of arable land in Romania, only 1.5 million hectares have been sown this autumn, which is 1 million hectares less than a year ago. On top of everything, the governmental support for the autumn sowing works came very late, while the price for seeds, fertilizers and fuel have increased substantially. Next year"s crop therefore is likely to be rather feeble. According to Viorel Matei, president of the National Federation of Agricultural Producers in Romania (FNPAR), only 20% of the necessary amount of chemical fertilizers has been used. According to FNPAR statistics, not one forecast surface has actually been sown. Bad weather, insufficient financing and an incoherent agricultural strategy are among the explanations for quite a worrisome status: wheat - 1,140,000 hectares sown (55% of the forecast), autumn barley - 140,000 hectares (85% of the forecast), two-row barley - 70,000 hectares (73% of the forecast). Rapeseed is an even sadder story because 380,000 hectares (85% of the forecast) were sown, but approximately half of them need to be re-sown because of the drought. Romania has only sown 5,000 hectares of fodder plants (20% of the forecast) and 800 hectares of vegetables (17% of the forecast). The situation was much better last year: 2,057,000 hectares of wheat, 550,000 hectares of barley and two-row barley, 400,000 hectares of rapeseed and 550,000 hectares of fodder plants. Despite the fact that crops were record high, the price of agricultural products remained unchanged. Considering the current status of the 2008 sowing works, the price of agricultural products is very likely to increase. According to Dragos Frumosu, president of the National Federation of Food Industry Unions (FNSIA), the world economic crisis and the bad domestic status of the agriculture will trigger price increases as early as December, when prices go up anyway because of the year-end holidays. "The price of agricultural products will increase by at least 10% and the effects will become obvious in the first months of next year," he said. Another major problem of the Romanian agriculture is the slow and difficult access to EU funds made available through dedicated programs such as SAPARD, the National Plan for Rural Development and the Operational Programme for Fisheries. A brief status would be that Romania is trying to extend the SAPARD by one more year, has tapped only 5-10% of the Annual Financing Agreement 2006 and is trying to better advertise EU programs among potential beneficiaries. On top of everything, the ongoing global financial crisis is making financing even more difficult to obtain.