ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE VEGETABLE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN ROMANIA

Abstract

Agriculture is an important sector in Romanian economy, the cultivation of cereals, especially wheat and corn, holding a major place. Statistically, in the last ten years, our country has obtained twice as much grain production as the yield obtained in the previous period. In this context, with a production value of over 31 million tonnes, in 2018 Romania ranked third in Europe, after France and Germany, according to Eurostat data. France obtained a double grain production compared to our country. Regarding the types of crops, we observe that our country ranked first in the production of maize and sunflower, while holding  the fourth position in  wheat production, compared to the other European countries.This paper is based on the statistical data provided by the National Institute of Statistics, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Eurostat. Although Romania has a high agricultural potential, its farmland  cannot be exploited to its true value due to insufficient mechanization, the fragmentation of the farmland , the lack of capital and irrigation systems. The poor professional training of the aging agricultural workers also contributes to the bleak situation of  Romanian agriculture. The financial support provided by the EU and the Romanian state to the farmers has led to the increase of agricultural production. Farmers have to organize themselves in various forms of association in order to be able to obtain agricultural produce at lower costs. At the same time, the mechanization of agriculture must be continued in order to increase productivity per hectare.