Transcript Slide 1

The present Romanian rural
CAP challenges for rural development
Case of Timis County
Region overview
8.696,7 km2 the largest county in Romania
average yearly temperature 10,7º C
average yearly rainfall 500-700 mm
659.299 inhabitants / 47,9% men 52,1% women
density 75,8 inhabitants/km2
12 urban localities, 85 communes and 312 villages
natural growth rate of the population -2‰
migration ratio is positive 2,4‰
rate of occupied population:
in the tertiary sector (41,5%)
total population active in agriculture (24,9%)
industry 28% and 5,6% in constructions
unemployment rate 2,3% (5,9% national)
agricultural area 81% from total county
transforming industries 70% total production
public roads density 33,4 km/100 km²
railroads the density 91,9 km/1000 km²
Agriculture in regional economy
81% of total area - agricultural area
869665 ha total – 701225 ha agricultural - 532506 ha arable
the agriculture contribution to GVA decreases as share in total from
25% to 14%. Secondary sector’s GDP goes from 40,3% to 36% and
the tertiary sector’s GDP grows from 37,8% to 49,5% (‘95-’04)
All while the county GDP grows from 3497,4 in 1998 to 6676,3 in
2004 (millions PPS)
In total households’ income only 4,1% is generated in agriculture
(data at national level) while agricultural holdings with other
gainful activity grows from 4,2% to 22,1 between 2003 and 2005
Current situation
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Monoactivity rural economy
Structural issues - small and fragmented
Farm/farmer status – juridical status
De-capitalised farms
Knowledge
Education/formation
Extension services
Lack of community organisation
Cultural issues related to biodiversity and environment
Administrative capacity
Current situation
• Monoactivity rural economy
The agriculture dominates the rural economy.
Not only it is the dominant activity but
provides low incomes and unsatisfactory living
standards for rural families. Given the rural
poverty and the low self-financing capacities
the investments are limited and income
diversification tends to become compulsory
for the rural households
Current situation
• Structural issues - small and fragmented
The farm structure comprises more than 1,5
million farms with 1 to 5 ha in Romania. Even
medium farms have sever structural issues
given the large number of plots and their
small size. No re-groupement initiative was
taken into account by any governments until
now
Current situation
• Farm/farmer status – juridical status
Both the farms and the farmers have no juridical
status until today with few exceptions where
they are registered as commercial companies.
No taxes are collected except for land and
residence property. Public financial support
cannot deal with unregistered actors!
Current situation
• De-capitalised farms
During the communist period the forced
collective agricultural exploitation did not
allow capitalisation in households. Therefore
their accumulations at the beginning of 1990’s
when the land began to be restituted
amounted zero in most situations
Current situation
• Knowledge
The knowledge level is rather unsatisfactory for
the contemporary agriculture, open market
(agricultural)
and competitive economies.
Farmers have
insufficient knowledge for the administrative
procedures, basic economics, new
(agricultural) technologies, ITC
Current situation
• Education/formation
As external factor, the education system does
not provide appropriate formation/training
programmes for farmers or other specialised
short term modules tailored on beneficiaries
needs. Vocational agricultural schools are rare
and with inadequate programms
Current situation
• Extension services
The public extension services have less staff
than required in order to support the farmers
and the rural communities. The level of
expertise of the consultants remain purely
technical with little or no knowledge about
the CAP
Current situation
• Lack of community organisation
The rural communities are not organised. Their
interests are not represented and people lack
minimum communication and community
initiatives. Recent past marked a number of
people as regarding terms like “collective”,
“common”, “cooperate”
Current situation
• Cultural issues related to biodiversity and
environment
Rural inhabitants (urban as well) have no
cultural values attached to environment
and/or biodiversity. These new concepts need
to be actively promoted in order to be
facilitate a broader understanding and
acceptance
Current situation
• Administrative capacity
All administration levels but more importantly
the regional and local ones are lacking
institutional and professional capacity. Efforts
are still in progress, but 12 months after
accession certain core structures are
inoperational or seriously delayed
Main challenges for the National Rural
Development Programme
• The Programme management - administrative capacity
• LEADER axis – absence of community organisation
• Rural economy diversification – poverty, infrastructure,
entrepreneurship
• Semi-subsistence farming – small and numerous
agricultural households
• Young farmers / investments in modernisation – legal
actors, economic capacity,
• Agro-environment measures – cultural change, IACS
capacity, synchronisation with Environment measures