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Agriculture minister: We have 1.1 million farmers and only 1% receive EC support
Almost half of the financial support granted by the European Commission to Romania goes to 1% of the 1.1 million farmers, said the minister of agriculture and rural development, Daniel Constantin at a conference.
“Romania has special characteristics because we have 1.1 million farmers and only 1% of them receive half of the support granted by EC every year. In 2013 the package for Romania is of 1.4 billion euro and 700 million euro go to 1% of farmers. Unfortunately we have a polarized agriculture, a few very large farms and a lot of small farms. We have about 850,000 farms between 1 and 5 hectares and by intention is to strengthen the middle class,” Constantin said.
He pointed out that as of 2014 EC introduced the possibility for member states to decide granting only 300,000 euro for large farms, regardless of the area.Constantin also added that over 2014-2020 Romanian farmers will receive 196/ha compared to 139 euro at present.