ROMANIA’S AGRI-FOOD AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

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Paun Ion Otiman (otiman@acad.ro)
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Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, 2013, vol. 10, issue 2, pages 133-153

Abstract: Romania’s agri-food and sustainable rural development strategy, consensual from the political point of view, should be the output of an objective scientific analysis of the agricultural and forestry potential, and adapted, endorsed and supported by all the political and technocratic forces, under the form of a vector of development, with important objectives and legal reform and restructuring procedures, as support or vehicle for their implementation. The agri-food and sustainable rural development strategy (vector of development) has the governance programs as support or implementation vehicle, which, in our opinion, should represent a coating, a coverage of the strategic vector and not a factor of permanent severance of the strategy, as things have happened in Romania with the successive governments in power after 1989. The agricultural strategy objectives were formulated starting from the functions of the rural area and economy, of the Romanian agriculture, the need of their fast development, the new partnership between Europe and the farmers, in agreement with the CAP reform for the period 2014–2020, namely: – obtaining a reliable agricultural production that should ensure the national food security and guarantee Romania’s population food safety, which, at the 2020 horizon, asks for doubling (at least) the agricultural yields (average yields, 4300–4400 kg/ha compared to 2770 kg/ha conventional cereals in the decade 2000–2010) and the crop and livestock production value and tripling the value of processed agri-food production; these levels can fully meet the domestic needs of quality food products and ensure a surplus of 5.5–6 bln. € agri-food products available for export; – ensuring the ecological equilibrium of the rural area on the long-run, in sustainable terms, through public, public-private or private investments in infrastructure, for the protection and equipment of the national territory (irrigation systems, field protection belts, anti-flood, anti-erosion protection hydro-melioration systems, afforestation of degraded and cleared land areas, etc.); – conservation and protection of useful renewable natural resources (soil, air, water, biodiversity) and sustainable use of natural agricultural resources, of soil in the first place, as main natural renewable resource of Romania, biodiversity conservation, application of policies meant to attenuate the climate change effects; – balanced territorial development of agricultural rural economy and development of agricultural and non-agricultural rural SMEs and increasing the active rural population’s employment level; – equilibrating the Romanian food (and payments) balance and growth of the Romanian agri-food exports; – diminution of less-favoured rural areas and alleviation of severe rural poverty; – optimization of the agricultural production structure and of the territorial distribution of the farming systems (intensive specialized/multifunctional/conservative; modern/traditional; ecological/ biotechnological; food production/production of non-food raw products/bio-energy production); – agro-tourism capital growth through the preservation of the landscape heritage of the rural area; – getting the national education and scientific research system compatible with the European system, ensuring its sustainable partnership with the Romanian agri-food system; – elaboration of the Law on Romania’s agriculture orientation, as legislative support necessary for carrying out the Agricultural strategy.

Keywords: strategy; sustainable rural development; governance programs; objectives; food security and safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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