“Smalls farms that cannot even afford to invest in high-quality seeds make up half of the cultivated area. Uncertified seeds are used for over 40% of the area cultivated with corn in Romania, of 2.3 million hectares, which is tragic as it directly hurts yields,” Constantin told ZF Live Tuesday.
In terms of corn, Romania was last year surpassed by France, with a plus of 4.5 million tons. French farms’ average yield was at 8.4 tons/hectare, while Romania’s productivity stood at less than half. With yields matching the French one, the Romanian corn crop would have reached 21.8 million tons.
At present, the corn production brings farmers receipts of EUR2.6 billion.
Agriculture last year contributed EUR18.5 billion to the Romanian economy, up 28% year-on-year.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)