Romania plans shot in arm for farmers

A proposed law will help struggling farmers by forcing supermarkets to ensure at least 10 per cent of their food products are locally harvested. "How it is that you can buy tomatoes from Turkey or Italy, onions from Austria, apples from Poland and celery from Holland but no such products from Romania?" So asks Ruxandra Frumosu, a nurse, out shopping in one of the many supermarkets in the capital, Bucharest. “It’s a shame for farmers that almost no vegetables or fruits on sale in supermarkets are produced locally," she adds.

Frumosu’s words resonate with Romanian parliamentarians who have put forward a law that aims to force supermarkets to ensure 10 per cent of their food products are locally grown. "I strongly support this initiative," Agriculture Minister Valeriu Tabara said on Tuesday. Stefan Nicolae, president of the farmers union Agrostar, agrees. The move will help struggling small farmers, he said. "Local traditional food products are now mainly sold in outdoor markets because farmers don't have the money to pay the taxes to get access to the supermarkets," he claimed. "Such a move will allow farmers to increase production and, as a result, more good quality foodstuff can reach picky consumers."

Large supermarket chains from Western Europe have mushroomed in Romania over the past decade and now account now for almost 50 per cent of the market share, according to GfK research company. The advent of the big supermarkets, with their global procurement systems, has proven disastrous for small producers and dairy farmers who are used to delivering their goods directly to open markets or to local wholesalers using their own vehicles.

Furthermore, small farmers vying to sell to the supermarkets have to grow what the retailer wants, not what they choose to supply, a dramatic change from ordinary practice. Even when they do produce what the supermarkets want, they risk a large part of their produce being rejected because it is deemed of sub-standard quality. Farming remains important in Romania. There are 3.5 million small farms, two-thirds of them less than one hectare in size. With memories of forced collectivisation under the communist regime still vivid, many peasants reject calls to put their land together and create larger, more profitable farms. The farming sector employs nearly one third of Romania's workforce.

News source: BalkanInsight link: article