The Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will grant greenhouse tomato growers, cultivating for domestic consumption, 3,000 Euro per year, according to a decision drafted by MARD which was approved in a government meeting on Friday.
To qualify for this money, producers must have a protected area, planted with tomatoes, of at least 1,000 square metres; a production of at least two kilograms per square metre and, most importantly, they must be able to supply their productions in the low season; that is, from January to May and from November to December.
Mr Aurel Tanase, President of the Interprofessional Organization for Vegetables and Fruit Agro-food Products (OIPALF), who helped design the draft government decision, said that "all is well and good; only one thing bothers us: the timing to deliver the tomato yields is unrealistic, because you cannot produce in Romania in unheated greenhouses, where temperatures are about one degree Celsius. Our proposal is to extend the first delivery period until 31 July, and during the winter, for it to be brought forward by one month and begin in October."
Romania's tomato production in 2015 stood at 695,000 tonnes, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), while domestic consumption reached 767,000 tonnes, about 10% higher than the production. There is consequently an annual deficit of 72,000 tonnes of tomatoes in the local market, which is mostly covered by imports.
"We would be very pleased if we could increase the domestic production in order to reduce imports," stated Mr Tanase.
In terms of value, in 2015 Romania imported tomatoes worth 54.3 million Euro, while exports were worth only 0.9 million Euro. The value of exports is thus 60 times lower than the value of imports, according to the INS.
Source: zf.ro