Romania’s modern history has been marked by the debate about the role of agriculture in the country’s economic and social profile. This goes to illustrate agriculture’s crucial importance for Romania, a country richly endowed with resources. Irrespective of agriculture’s ups and downs, the economic and strategic importance of this sector is confirmed by the evolution of contemporary society. In a world of continuous population growth, under the impact of climate change, food security and quality of food have become key concepts. Consequently, evolutions over recent years have confirmed the validity of the classical debate: what is the role of agriculture in national economy and how can it contribute further to the country development? [read more]
We have attempted to give a comprehensive view of the problem of agriculture in contemporary Romania in the way we have selected the indicators for this field. We have aimed to show the evolution of this economic sector – for instance, the fact that value added (% of GDP) has dropped to 5 percent, compared to 20 percent in 1990. We have also chosen to point to the critical problems in agricultural activity (poor equipment, agricultural land fragmentation, precarious processing of agricultural production, etc.). In the same time, we have focused on village life, as the core element in modernizing agriculture, and on those perspectives that have a strategic significance for the evolution of agriculture. We have also looked at programs launched recently – extending the irrigation system, stimulating livestock breeding, stimulating cereal production, etc.
In this light, we have identified six subfields: 1. Agricultural land, 2. Agricultural and livestock production, 3. Environment pollution from agricultural activities, 4. Contribution of agriculture to economy, 5. Quality of life in rural areas, 6. Food and food security. Each field comprises a number of main and secondary indicators, selected from internal and international databases, that help capture the situation in each subfield.
Agricultural land 
Agricultural and livestock production
Environment pollution from agricultural activities
Contribution of agriculture to economy
Quality of life in rural areas
Food and food security
Regarding agricultural land, Romania is sixth in Europe, after France, Spain, Great Britain, Germany and Poland. That is why it is the first indicator in this subfield. Even if it has significantly decreased, arable land area is still considerable and places Romania on this important position in Europe. The total arable land area is a significant indicator that cereals represent an important component of agricultural production in Romania. Another main indicator is agricultural irrigated land, an important factor for yield per hectare. We can remark that the percentage of irrigated land is relatively low at national level, under the values registered in Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. After a period of visible decline, this surface has increased in the last year and there are perspectives for a promising evolution in the years to come.[read more]
This subfield has eight secondary indicators: rural land area, arable land (hectares, national level), land under cereal production, land under vegetables production, vineyards land area, farm land area, organic crops land area, orchards land area. Together, main and secondary indicators capture a representative image of this special wealth, a country’s agricultural land.
Agricultural and livestock production shows to what degree agricultural land and natural conditions are used. Agricultural yield expressed by the quantity of products obtained by unit of cultivated area can be amplified by means of livestock production, which improves the use of agricultural production as such. [read more]
This subfield has three main indicators (crop production index, cereal yield, agricultural machinery, tractors per 100 sq. km of arable land) and six secondary indicators (number of animals per 100 hectares, global livestock production, milk production, fruit production per type, grape production and production by agricultural sector).
The analysis of the main indicators reveals several conclusions that can give an image of the following period. Cereal yield, although with an overall positive evolution, highlights that economic yield is significantly lower than European values. Just as the number of agricultural machinery and tractors per 100 sq. km shows that Romania lags behind in terms of technical equipment in agriculture.
This subfield is composed of one main indicator (fertilizer consumption) and four secondary indicators: agricultural methane emissions (% of total methane emissions), agricultural methane emissions (thousand metric tons of CO2 equivalent), agricultural nitric oxide emissions (% of total nitric oxide emissions), agricultural nitric oxide emissions (thousand metric tons of CO2 equivalent). This set of statistical indicators is relevant for highlighting the degree of pollution from agricultural products as a result of agricultural activity, and the main challenges in livestock production, on this component. [read more]
Inevitably, the development of agricultural technologies has triggered the use of chemicals for crop pest control and for increasing agricultural production. Processes such as fertilization, herbicides and chemical crop protection are all common occurrences in modern agricultural activities. However, besides the evident benefits for agricultural processes, these activities represent pollution factors that influence the quality of the soil, air and groundwater.
The analysis of these indicators highlights the main polluting factors generated by agriculture.
The most important statistical indicator that highlights the soil and groundwater pollution is fertilizer consumption (measured by kilograms per hectare of arable land). This indicator shows the quantity used per hectare for obtaining good agricultural products. This simple, unaggregated indicator can be correlated with the crop yield indicator (closely connected to fertilizer consumption per hectare).
The other indicators for this field are: agricultural methane emissions (expressed in thousand metric tons of CO2 equivalent and % of total methane emissions) and agricultural nitric oxide emissions (same units of measurement). The analysis of these indicators’ evolution can be made in national context (involving the analysis of the main development regions) and also at international level (to notice the similar evolutions for these parameters in other EU member states).
This subfield highlights the role that agriculture plays in the development of national economy. According to statistical data, the contribution of agriculture, forestry, fishery to GDP is important, but far from the dynamics and percentages registered before 1989. This decline is normal for developed or developing countries, given that value added in agriculture is not that important. In the European Union, for instance, in Germany and France, the most significant economies, agriculture contributes less than 2% to GDP. Certainly, the figures above can be explained by the weight of industry and economy, which is not the case of Romania. In Romania, one explanation for the relatively modest contribution of agriculture to GDP is the extent of subsistence agriculture, the excessive fragmentation of agricultural land, to which can be added the absence of long-term managerial vision. For instance, Romania exports cereals and imports meat and processed products. [read more]
The subfield contains one main indicator: agriculture, value added (% of GDP), and a number of three secondary indicators (value added per employee in agriculture, CIF imports – crops and livestock products, FOB exports - crops and livestock products).
The role of this subfield is to highlight the essential characteristics of quality of life in rural areas. Starting from the minimal standards established at the level of the European Union, we have focused on the access of the population in rural areas to utilities (electricity, water, sewage, gas). The subfield comprises one main indicator (population in rural areas) and four secondary indicators (access to health services in rural areas, employability in agriculture, access to electricity, population living in poverty). [read more]
The main indicator is: population in rural areas (% of total population). According to statistical data in 2016, Romania is on the antepenultimate place in the European Union (45.25%), after Slovenia (50.37%) and Slovakia (46.53%), but on the last place in the EU regarding the total number of people in rural areas. Continuing urbanization represents an essential condition for Romania’s modernization and improved quality of life. Immediately after 1990, rural population increased; afterwards, this process was reversed, with decreasing numbers of people living in rural areas. The decrease is partly owed to migration to urban areas or to other countries (active population). Migration has triggered an unfavourable trend, the severe aging of rural population.
Secondary indicators focus on identifying access to health services (especially basic specialized services) and to electricity (based on World Bank criteria). To stabilize the young population in rural areas and limit poverty, creating jobs is crucial, a process that cannot be accomplished without encouraging industrial activities in the rural areas to some extent.
The increase in global food demand (the world population has increased fivefold over the last 100 years), as well as demand for a diversified offer in the field have created the context for the birth of the concept of food security. According to the World Food Summit in 1996, food security involves a system formed of four fundamental components: food availability, food access, utilization and, most importantly, stability (the simultaneous existence of the above-mentioned components and sustainability).[read more]
Starting from these four fundamental components, we have built four indicators (one main indicator and three secondary indicators) that capture the essence of this subfield. The main indicator is food production index, a composite indicator, that takes into account the main food crops (cereals, vegetables, fruits, seeds, etc.) used in staple diet, calculated at average consumption prices in the year of measurement. Because similarity in reporting was needed, we have chosen the base period 2004-2006 and 100 units value as global reference. Over the last 20 years, Romania has been close to the 100 units reference value, which indicates a high level of stability in ensuring food.
The first two secondary indicators are: total food exports and total food imports. While in 1991 Romania imported approximately 2 times more food and livestock products than it exported, in the last 20 years the balance has almost doubled (because of exponential growth of imports). The third secondary indicator, food deficit index, is measured in kcal per person/day and establishes the difference between the average dietary energy requirement and the average dietary energy consumption. We need to underline the fact that Romania does not report data to international data bases, but takes into consideration the international situation for this parameter.
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