Culcescu: Vegetable and fruit production will be down 50% next year if state does not help farmers

Horia Culcescu, godson of Gigi Becali, owner of Steaua football team, and one of the biggest vegetables and fruit farmers on the Romanian market, says production will halve next year, and farmers’ businesses will see a drastic decline amid a lack of state subsidies and of loans dedicated to farmers, which will no longer be available as of January 2010.
Romania has had three years of transition after joining the European Union, during which time Romanian farmers benefited both from state subsidies, and from state incentives for taking out loans. Despite the subsidies, most farmers could not develop projects using structural funds from the European Union, because they could only be accessed sporadically and very low amounts were available.
“The state cannot extend these subsidies with funds from the state budget, and the problem is Romanian farmers are not prepared to produce without these subsidies yet,” said Horia Culcescu, 39, owner of Leader International, one of the leading producers of tinned vegetables and fruit on the Romanian market.
According to Prodcom Vegetable and Fruit Producers’ Association, Romanians’ consumption of vegetables and fruit amounts to around one million tonnes of vegetable and fruit per year, of which 250,000 tonnes are dedicated to industrial production.
Culcescu says in the absence of the subsidies received up until now, vegetable and fruit production will fall dramatically in 2010, which will prompt a rise in imports and a price increase, as well as causing many producers to go bankrupt.
“Farmers’ turnovers will see a drastic decline next year, when the transition period is over. We expect the overall vegetables and fruit production to fall by around 50% next year against this year. Imports, which now account for 70% of domestic consumption, will amount to 80-85% next year,” said the businessman, adding that his business will in turn be affected.