Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 has an agricultural capacity of approximately 14,7 million hectares, of which only 10 million are used as arable land

Arable land

In geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...

. In November 2008, an evaluation revealed that 6.8 million hectares are not used.

Agriculture summed up about 6% of GDP in 2007, down from 12.6% in 2004. As of August 2009, approximately 3 million Romanians (close to 30% of the country's workforce) are employed in agriculture, compared to 4-5% in other Western countries. Mechanization is comparatively poor, with one tractor

Tractor

A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...

 available for every 54 hectares, while the EU average is one tractor for every 13 hectares. Approximately 170,000 tractors exist in Romania, of which about 80% are aging or obsolete. Unlike Western Europe

Western Europe

Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...

, where tractors are replaced after 3,000-4,000 hours of use, in Romania they sometimes last up to 12,000 hours.

The main problems encountered by Romanian agriculturists are a lack of major investments in agriculture, due to difficulty in accessing available funds, fragmentation and erosion of soil, property-related lawsuits and obsolete technology. Romanian products often fail to meet EU

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 quality standards, which explains their absence on foreign markets, while foreign products are readily available in shops across Romania. Several major companies have entered the Romanian market, including Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods, Inc. is the world’s largest pork producer and processor. Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, it runs facilities in 26 U.S. states, including the world's largest meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, and has operations in Brazil, China, France, Mexico, Poland,...

, Cargill

Cargill

Cargill, Incorporated is a privately held, multinational corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Founded in 1865, it is now the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue. If it were a public company, it would rank, as of 2011, number 13 on the Fortune 500,...

, Bunge

Bunge

Bunge may refer to:* Bunge Land, one of the New Siberian Islands* Bunge Limited, an agribusiness company* The unicameral National Assembly in the Tanzanian legislature* A modifiable avatar stat in GunBound- People with the surname Bunge :...

, Glencore

Glencore

Glencore International plc is a multinational mining and commodities trading company headquartered in Baar, Switzerland and with its registered office in Saint Helier, Jersey...

, Lactalis

Lactalis

Lactalis is a multi-national dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. It is the third largest dairy products group in the world, and is the second largest food products group in France, behind Danone...

 and Meggle. These companies have since invested hundreds of millions of euros in Romania.

According to the National Statistics Institute, in 2006 991,000 ha of sun-flower and 191,000 ha of soybean were cultivated. Cereal production in 2006 stood at 15.1 million tons, including 5.3 million tons of wheat and 8.6 million tons of maize. In 2007, a severe drought

Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

 destroyed over 60% of crops. Wheat production subsequently fell to 3 million tons, and prices fell 25%. Analysts claimed it was the worst harvest since 1940..

Cereal, fruit and vegetable production: (thousands of tons)

Year	2008	2007	2006
Wheat	7,144	3,044	5,520
Maize	-	3,853	8,600
Sunflower	1,159	547	-
Potatoes	3,649	3,712	-
Apples	325	362	-

Through the Common Agricultural Policy

Common Agricultural Policy

The Common Agricultural Policy is a system of European Union agricultural subsidies and programmes. It represents 48% of the EU's budget, €49.8 billion in 2006 ....

, Romania will receive 14.5 billion euros between 2007 and 2013, according to statements made by the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

.