the present romanian rural

The present Romanian ruralThe present Romanian rural

CAP challenges for rural CAP challenges for rural developmentdevelopment

Case of Timis CountyCase of Timis County

Region overviewRegion overview8.696,7 km2

the largest county in Romaniaaverage yearly temperature 10,7º Caverage yearly rainfall 500-700 mm659.299 inhabitants / 47,9% men 52,1% women density 75,8 inhabitants/km2

12 urban localities, 85 communes and 312 villagesnatural 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 constructionsunemployment rate 2,3% (5,9% national)agricultural area 81% from total countytransforming industries 70% total productionpublic roads density 33,4 km/100 km²railroads the density 91,9 km/1000 km²

Agriculture in regional economyAgriculture in regional economy81% 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 situationCurrent situation• 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 situationCurrent situation

• Monoactivity rural economyThe 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


• Structural issues - small and fragmentedThe 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


• Farm/farmer status – juridical statusBoth 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!


• De-capitalised farmsDuring 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


• KnowledgeThe knowledge level is rather unsatisfactory for

the contemporary agriculture, open market and competitive economies. Farmers have insufficient knowledge for the administrative procedures, basic economics, new (agricultural) technologies, ITC

(agricultural)


• Education/formationAs 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


• Extension servicesThe 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


• Lack of community organisationThe 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”


• 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


• Administrative capacityAll 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 Main challenges for the National Rural Development ProgrammeDevelopment 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

the present romanian rural

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