Romania, Europe’s granary? Not according to the statistics

Romania’s potential to become one of Europe’s agricultural powerhouses has been one of the unfulfilled dreams of the last 30 years of democracy. While Romania has among the largest areas used for agriculture in the EU, the yields generated by Romanian farms are among the lowest, the statistics show.

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A local myth that was strongly promoted during the communist regime and some have continued to perpetuate even after its collapse is that Romania used to be “Europe’s granary.” Some still mention this when talking about Romania’s leading places in Europe when it comes to the production of cereals, especially grain and corn. Indeed, Romania has been the biggest corn producer in the EU in some of the recent years (alongside France), and in the top five wheat producers.

However, Romania also has some of the largest areas used for agriculture in the EU, and its yields per hectare are significantly lower than in many EU counterparts. When it comes to overall outputs, Romania’s agriculture is among the least efficient in the EU. Moreover, Romania is a net importer of agricultural products and food.

Here’s what the EU statistics say about Romania’s agriculture

A Eurostat report from 2018 on “Farms and farmland in the European Union” shows that Romania was seventh in the EU for the utilized agricultural area in 2016, with 12.5 million hectares. This represented 7.21% of the total area utilized for agriculture in the EU that year (the statistics include the UK).

Meanwhile, the standard output generated by Romania’s farms (some EUR 12.1 bln in 2016) represented 3.32% of the EU total. The standard output per hectare in Romania was EUR 968, the fifth lowest in the EU, Romania-Insider.com has calculated based on Eurostat data. Only Bulgaria and the Baltics had lower standard outputs per hectare of utilized agricultural area in 2016. This indicates that Romania’s agriculture is one of the least efficient in the EU.

For comparison, Poland uses for agriculture an area only 15% higher than Romania but had a standard output more than double compared to Romania’s. The yield per hectare in Poland was EUR 1,736 in 2016. Italy, which has roughly the same agricultural area as Romania, produces over four times more, with an average yield of EUR 4,100 per hectare.

The Netherlands has the most efficient agriculture in the EU, with a standard output per hectare of EUR 12.853, 13 times higher than Romania’s. The Dutch agriculture thus produces two times more than Romanian one, using seven times less land.

Of course, these figures only show an overall image. Yields vary a lot based on what the land is used for. Arable land used for intensive agriculture has significantly higher yields than green pastures.