Agriculture: Romania to close farming year 2021/2022 on stable production, but less cereals than in previous year

Romania will close farming year 2021/2022 on stable production, which will mean an export surplus, even if it will not get the quantities of cereals from the year before, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said last week."So far, I have seen a good part of the country and I am talking a lot with our farmers. I could call the crops good nowadays. Obviously, there are differences from region to region and there are situations, especially in the eastern parts of the country where it has rained less and in some places the crops do not look very good. (...) I believe that we will close farming year 2021/2022 on stable production, which will bring us an export surplus, given that Romania generally produces much more than it needs. Obviously, we want this quantity, a large part of it, to stay in the country, to be processed in the country, to give added value to the raw materials, but I am just six months into office, and the programmes we have developed and the way in which we will begin to achieve complementarity between national programmes and European funds will fully show their effects next year," said Chesnoiu.He added that this year's production will not be at the level of 2021, "a year close to perfection," both in terms of weather and in terms of the stability of the level of inputs and the level of crops costs.Asked if he could estimate a level of cereal production this year, the minister replied: "It's a long way to harvesting; data is changing from day to day."In his opinion, the agricultural areas with the biggest problems are those in the eastern parts of Romania, including Vaslui, Barlad and Iasi, where it has rained less, and also the Baragan area.According to him, it is very important to prepare for farming year 2022/2023, because there will be a lot of international pressure on agricultural raw materials.The minister also mentioned a partnership signed with the Ministry of Energy on the Modernisation Fund for a part of the fund to be directed to Romanian farmers and food industry in order to ensure energy independence.Romania's grain production exceeded 27.79 million tonnes in 2021, up 9.637 million tonnes from 2020, when it totalled 18.153 million tonnes.