Ministry claims foreigners cultivate only 5% of Romania’s farmland

Foreign investors, both natural and legal persons, cultivate far less agricultural land in Romania than some politicians have argued on a nationalist note, according to figures from the Agriculture Ministry quoted by Agerpres.

The issue of foreigners buying a large part of the country’s land, very often used by anti-EU propaganda, is up on the agenda. Foreign investors cultivate 422,000 hectares out of a total arable surface of about 9.5 million ha, the Agriculture Ministry claims, local G4media.ro reported. Therefore, foreigners cultivate up to 5% of the total land. Others claim the share is between 40% and 60%.

According to a study dating from 2015 and carried by Transnational Institute for the European Commission, 20%-30 of Romania’s 13.3 million hectares of arable land is owned by EU residents while non-EU foreigners own another 10%. There are no official estimates, Transnational Institute admitted at that time.

By joining the European Union in 2007, Romania has also agreed to allow European citizens, individuals, to purchase land on national territory. A few years later, in 2014, the Romanian authorities enacted this requirement. The foreign firms were already cultivating land in Romania since before accession upon registering a local subsidiary.

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