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Agriculture : Romania can produce food for 35 million people
Romania is not just a country that produced to cover its own needs, but also an important player at European and international level that can produce food for 35 million people, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Daniel Constantin, told a specialist conference.
'The fact that in 2050 we will have 9 billion people living on this planet can indeed be a cause for concern, but I believe that we should rather see this not as a concern but as a challenge for all of us to produce more and benefit from this opportunity that we have. Romania can play an important part here. I believe that it can produce, not as much as many of the politicians claim, while invoking information from the media or other unreliable sources, for 80 million people, but for 35 million people for sure, although, of course, we still have a lot of work to do to reach up to this level,' the Minister explained.
In his opinion, the challenge for Romania is to integrate the raw material and export the processed products, with the World Bank experts having already established a target for Romania in the agricultural strategy for the long term of 80 per cent of the exports of agrifood products that should be processed products, by 2030.
'I am glad that the WB experts who worked on this strategy [the long term agricultural strategy - e.n.] established that 80 per cent of Romania's exports in agrifood should be processed products. This is an extremely ambitious target. I believe that, corroborated with the funds that we have and by stimulating those who want to set up cooperatives and integrate short production chains, we can definitely reach this objective,' the MADR chief underscored.
According to the chief economist of the World Bank, Holger Kray, agriculture is one of the sectors of the future, generating revenues, and that must support the demand of food to record a significant surplus due to the growing population of the planet.
'The population will grow up to 9 billion people in 2050, with the production of foodstuffs going to also record a surplus of 35 per cent compared to now. This is a huge challenge and an opportunity for each country to have a strong and well equipped agriculture for this, same as Romania. However, it is also about the access to a safe nutrition, since for the first time there are more obese people than hungry people. That's why this is not about calories, but about the quality of the food and Europe can become a leader in this respect. Also, we expect revenues of the small farmers from the poor countries to grow by 45 per cent," Holger Kray explained.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) together with the World Bank on Wednesday organises a conference with the theme "Medium-term and long-term vision: transforming agriculture and the rural environment in Romania."
The conference is intended to stimulate an ample debate with those interested in the future challenges and objectives of agriculture and rural development in Romania, from the European and global trends perspective. The MADR leadership will also present on this occasion the investment and reform priorities in the medium and long run of the MADR, beyond the European Union regulation framework.