Greg Page, Cargill: Work all the agricultural land to be competitive
This year's grain production, of around 18 million tonnes, could double if farmers invested in technology and also worked the untilled land, accounting for almost 35% of Romania's total arable area, says Greg Page, CEO of Cargill US grain trade giant.
While the level of state aid of the past ten years revolves
around 10bn euros, Romania still has one of the lowest grain
volumes per hectare in Europe. Moreover, of the over 9.4 million
hectares of arable land, almost 3.5 million hectares are left
untilled.
Currently, agriculture contributes a little above 6% to Romania's
110bn-euro GDP, but a better organisation would significantly boost
the importance of this field in the economy.
"The biggest opportunity of Romanian agriculture will be if starts
working the untilled land. The need of agricultural products will
double in the coming period, and for this Romania, as well as other
countries in the Black Sea area, need to considerably boost
production," Page said.
Cargill Romania reached turnover worth around 280m euros in
2009.