The unions and professional associations have found the solutions for saving Romania"s agriculture

The chairman of the Înfrăţirea Federation of Unions in the Metallurgy industry, Ovidiu Cioroianu, yesterday issued a press release expressing a joint opinion of the professional associations and unions concerning the situation of the machinery and farming equipment industry. He said "the companies building tractors, farming equipment, ploughs and other equipment for agriculture, represent an important area of the Romanian industry". The main suppliers of these companies are metallurgy and the horizontal industries, which cover over 70% of the demand, with the rest being covered by imports.

According to the document, the situation of these companies is extremely difficult, because of the farmers" lack of financial resources. "The companies operating on the Romanian market have tried and succeeded in compensating the crash of the domestic market by increasing exports to various regions", the joint press release states.

The professional associations and the unions have come up with a list of measures that they feel " would lead to the perfect integration of the steps for the recovery of agriculture".

• Investments in agriculture

Some of the steps suggested include the reenactment of the law no. 231/2005, aimed at stimulating investments in agriculture, which didn"t function properly in 2008, with the allocated funds being used for the payment of some liabilities arising from the SAPARD program for the previous year. "It is imperative and urgent that for 2009, the Minister of Agriculture issue a decree to create a fund for agricultural loans, the list of activities which can receive loans, the institutions which can grant such loans, provided the reimbursable amounts are reduced". Also, the document in question requests the improved absorption of structural funds, a reduction of bureaucracy, and better information and support for loan applicants.

• "Junk replacement program" for tractors

Another request is the application of the law no. 10/2008 concerning the program for the renewal of the national tractor fleet. Even though the law was passed in January 2008, the program has not yet been started. This law would be similar to the "Junk car" program which was aimed at replacing old cars and would apply to some 1200 tractors per year, "which is extremely small compared to the similar program for cars". "The government stimulates Romanians to buy cars, but not to eat", unionists say, while claiming that the number of tractors is too small anyway and it should be increased to 5000.

• Companies should rent farming equipment in exchange for farming products

The Înfrăţirea Federation feels that some of the issues could be solved by "creating a company which would sell farming equipment to farmers who own plots of 15 - 30 hectares of land, because a lot of them are having trouble in selling their produce, and they prefer to buy farming equipment by paying in kind". Another suggested measure is to speed up the debate and the passing of the law concerning the legal status of loans for rural investments, which will help reduce the agricultural accumulation deficit by granting bank loans under attractive terms, for making the investments needed to increase the competitiveness of farming exploitation units.

• Subsidizing interest

The list of steps presented to the Government includes full or partial subsidization of the interest on loans and leasing contracts used for the acquisition of farming equipment and tractors, as well as authorizing the National Institute for Farming Equipment of Bucharest to certify and keep a registry of tractors and farming equipment regardless of their origin.

Other demands include bringing the level of excises for Diesel oil used in agriculture to a level similar to that of the European Union, the stabilization of the methodology for subsidizing certified seeds, full regulation of direct payments from Community funds.

The last step suggested "that state institutions should do what several other countries in the European Union did, namely openly encourage people to buy farming equipment made in Romania". "We make this request based on the fact that the quality of Romanian tractors and farming equipment matches that of their imported counterparts, while costing less. Even more, technical support is faster, and the spare parts inventory is more readily accessible and more comprehensive", the document says.

The chairman of the Înfrăţirea federation, Ovidiu Cioroianu, explained that the unionists do not want the amendment of the law of the budget for the current year, but rather they want the government to keep its promises and to invest in agriculture as suggested above.