Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Florin Barbu stated on Wednesday in Braila that Romania is a European leader in the poultry sector, mentioning that last year the country exported over 200 million chickens to countries such as France, Italy and the UK.
„We are the strongest force in the poultry sector within the European Union. Last year, we exported over 200 million chickens to important countries such as France, Italy and the UK. We intend to continue this approach with the pork sector, as well as with the dairy and beef cattle sectors. I will go to the European Commission (…) and I assure you that I will continue to support that all pig and cattle breeding – we are talking about dairy cows and beef cows – be subsidized from European funds, and over 4 billion EUR from 2028 will go directly to Romania’s livestock farming. (…) The only economic engine for Romania is agriculture, livestock and the food industry. Everyone, from the Prime Minister to the last minister, must understand that agriculture remains Romania’s only chance,” Florin Barbu stated.
The Agriculture Minister announced that in the next 2-3 years, Romania will implement programmes and processing units worth approximately 2 billion EUR, underscoring the necessity to integrate crop production with livestock and processing in order to avoid dependence on imported raw materials.
„In the next 2-3 years, Romania will implement programmes and processing units worth 2 billion EUR. What we need to do next? To integrate crop with livestock farming. This is paramount. Because, if we don’t go on this three important areas – crop, livestock and processing – we’ll end up in three years with processing units producing goods from imported raw materials. I don’t want that, because any product which leaves Romania carries the best, the cleanest label,” Barbu underscored.
Minister Barbu mentioned that the subsidies for coupled support will be conditioned from now on by integrating crop with livestock, in order to ensure the raw materials needed by processing units in Romania.
„There will no longer be coupled support subsidies unless we integrate crop with livestock. I will never again accept multinationals receiving coupled support for alfalfa without having a single animal on the farm. This will no longer happen in Romania,” Barbu stated.
The Agriculture Minister brought to mind that the amendment to the National Strategic Programme allowed support for the struggling dairy cattle sector by linking direct payments per livestock unit with silage corn, resulting in subsidies for this crop increasing to over 400 EUR per hectare.
„We will continue the same policy because the raw materials needed by processing units must be ensured through a joint effort,” Florin Barbu underscored.
AGERPRES
