Romania's wheat yields increase from 3mill t in 2007 to 10mill t; 2019 cereals yields possibly at 30mill t

When Romania joined the European Union in 2007, its wheat yields were standing at 3 million tonnes, and now it is at 10 million tonnes, for the third year in a row, Agriculture Minister Petre Daea told a public broadcaster on Monday. 

"In 2007, Romania joined the European Union with 3 million tonnes of wheat. Now it has 10 million tonnes; 10 million in three years in a row - 2017, 2018 and 2019. (...) While in 2007 we had 12 million tonnes of cereals, for three years now Romania's cereals yields have been standing at 27 million tonnes, in 2017, going up to 31 million tonnes in 2018 and around 30 million tonnes in 2019," said Daea. 

He added that all these agricultural outcomes are due to local climate, farmers and subsidies granted in time by the government. 

"There are three factors that helped us: the climate, the farmers who have acquired equipment and are knowledgeable about the best technologies; there are farms today in Romania far superior to farms in countries with an established agriculture and subsidies granted on time (...) Remember, the money comes from the EU only after the Romanian Government provides the money from the national budget. These 9 billion euros that we took from the EU, we paid from the Romanian budget firstly, and then recovered them from the EU, in compliance with the EU rulebook. The farmers, obviously, are the main players, working their respective land, getting technology and capital. It is for the first time in Romanian history when we have three good agricultural years, because a bad agricultural year can heal off in three good years," said Daea. 

Asked what the 2019 agricultural year looks like compared to 2018, the minister said that it is comparable to 2018, although there were losses in some areas. "There are losses in certain areas, we had losses in the east, in the far east, where drought affected us, we also had losses in the southwest part of the country," said Daea. 

He added that "Romania has been at the forefront of the EU for three years as far as two very important crops occupying more than 3.5 million hectares are concerned: maize and sunflower."