Romania ranks 6th out of the 27 EU member countries in terms of farmland used, after France, Spain, Germany, Great Britain and Poland, with 61% out of the 23.8 million ha of Romania's territory, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR).

Of the 14.686 million ha of farmland, 9.415 million ha is arable area, plus another 3.323 million ha of pastures, 1.527 million ha of hayland, 214,298 ha of vineyards and 205,143 ha of orchards. Per capita, the farmland used places Romania on the 5th place among EU members, after Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, with 0.64 ha per capita. The EU average is lower, at 0.35 ha per capita.

Moreover, in terms of per capita arable land used, Romania ranks 6th, with 0.41 ha, while the average in EU 27 stands at some 0.21 ha per capita. As to the farmland not used, Romania had 1.025 million ha in 2010, according to MADR, a figure unconfirmed yet by the National Institute of Statistics, up from 496,268 ha recorded in 2005. However, of 9.27 million ha for which support was requested from APIA, only an area of 455,948 ha was declared as being not used,Agerpres reports.
Modernising Romania's agriculture only possible through farmland amalgamation
Modernising Romania's agriculture will only be possible by farmland amalgamation, although Romania is among the European Union member states with huge agricultural potentials, Dutch ambassador in Bucharest Tanya van Gool told a seminar on Thursday on the amalgamation of farmland.

Van Gool added that Romania should follow the trend recorded in the EU in relation to the farmland amalgamation and draw up updated policies in this field. She mentioned the Netherlands as an example to the point, saying that 50 years ago it had 300,000 agricultural farms, of which only 75,000 are still standing, but that did not preclude the Netherlands from becoming a big player on the world's agricultural markets.

Chairman of the Dutch-Romanian Chamber of Commerce Peter de Ruiter said the Netherlands would have failed in agriculture had it not used the combined skills of all farmers and banking support.
Agriculture, he said, is crucially connected to banking in the Netherlands and I believe such a connection should also exist in Romania. Ate the same time, he added, there should be a coalition of the public administration, politicians and the private sector in order to succeed.

The Netherlands, said de Ruiter, is the main foreign investor in Romania and there are real cooperation opportunities between the two countries. Romanian Agriculture Minister Valeriu Tabara says finalising the land registry in Romania is a top priority right now because there is no fair taxation without a complete land registry.

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