Fuia also said Romania will get EU funds for agricultural research starting 2014.
“The agricultural research sector must be fundamentally changed to be ready in 2014 to absorb the available EU funding. Romania will either lose or fail to get the money unless it proves it has an actual research sector for farmers,” the minister also said.
“Romania’s agricultural research is now going into a certain direction, whereas farmers are going into a totally different direction. Agricultural research must meet farmers’ demands or Romania will never be able to develop its agriculture,” said Fuia, adding Romania is currently buying genetic material from companies in Western Europe.
The need to reform the agricultural research sector had been voiced out many times in the past, but no concrete measures have been taken so far. In April 2010, Romania’s EU Commissioner For Agriculture, Dacian Ciolos, said Romania’s agricultural research sector needs state funds as it can no longer rely only on land capitalization. According to Ciolos, then-agriculture minister Mihail Dumitru said researchers in agriculture must be encouraged to absorb EU funds.