Romania has lost about 4 million people in the last 30 years, due to migration and a negative population growth rate.
Minister of Agriculture Oros announced in the Parliament that the government is currently working on a strategy to bring back home many of the Romanians working abroad.
Measures would include earmarking half of the budget allocated this year for supporting young farmers (43 million EUR in total) to young Romanian farmers who would return home from foreign countries and start farming. In addition, these young farmers might also receive up to 50 ha of farmland (leased) for their own use.
Another measure the government is currently looking into is the increase of the net salary in the agricultural sector. At the moment, people working in agriculture have among the lowest salaries in the economy, which makes it an unattractive sector to work in (or many people prefer to work in agriculture in western Europe were salaries are better). The envisaged net salary would be around 3000 RON (about 625 EUR).
Source: Agroberichten Buitenland.
