Drought could reduce next year’s vegetal production by as much as 50 percent say local farmers

If the drought will continue throughout the following months, Romania could face a disastrous agricultural year in 2012, with the vegetal production going down by as much as 50 percent, according to Mediafax newswire. This is also expected to impact the 2 percent economic growth forecast for 2012.

“The situation is already disastrous and if it doesn’t rain it will be worse. Even if it will rain from now on, production will decrease by 20 – 30 percent in 2012. However, if it won’t rain enough, the autumn crops will be entirely compromised and production will go down by as much as 70 percent,” local businessman Culita Tarata who farms 65,000 ha on land, told Mediafax. His concern is shared by many other local farmers.

The situation occurs  after 2011 was dubbed Romania’s best agricultural year since 2004, with the total vegetal production increasing by over 20 percent. This was also mainly responsible for the unexpected 4.4 economic growth in this years’s third quarter.

In 2010, agriculture generated 6 percent of the country’s GDP.

Agriculture Minister Valeriu Tabara has previously announced that Romania has wheat reserves for three years.

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Simona Bazavan