The Agriculture Ministry would not provide any data on the grounds that it does not want to influence grain prices, considering wheat harvest is about to end. The major farmers, however, say the country is dealing with a ‘disaster’.
The chairman of the League of Farmer Associations in Romania (LAPAR), Laurentiu Baciu, says drought is causing 20% to 30% lower sunflower harvest, 25% lower wheat harvest and more than 50% lower corn harvest this year. The worst hit area is Moldavia, where losses reach 100% in the case of some crops.
The small farmers are experiencing similar problems. In Matca, Galati County, a place famous for its vegetables, production is 10% lower than in 2014, while Dabuleni, a Dolj town (southern Romania) famous for its watermelons, is seeing a similar decline.
“It’s really bad throughout the whole country and Moldavia is probably the worst hit,” says Adrian Porumboiu (65), owner of the Racova group in Vaslui (NE Romania), one of the leading local farmers.
The former soccer referee, whose company farms more than 45,000 hectares of land, has not given up hope yet: “If rain comes in the next few days, things can change.”
This year’s poor performance of the agricultural sector may have an influence on the economic growth, though it will not be significant, given the dwindling agriculture contribution to the GDP. Agriculture contributed 4% to 2014’s GDP and 0.1% of the 2.8% economic growth. Its share of the GDP dropped from 18% in 1995 to 4% last year, according to National Statistics Institute data.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)