Recently, a high official of the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) - Secretary of State Emil Dumitru - made public his assessment of the situation of the country’s agricultural sector and its financial support system. This was done in the context of the launching of the White Paper on Agriculture by IMM Romania - the Employers’ Confederation of SMEs.
Lots of funds, limited results
Romania will have a trade deficit of almost €3.5 billion on agri-food products at the end of 2025, even though it receives substantial funds for EU area payments annually, disbursed to some 700,000 farmers, which indicates structural deficiencies in the agricultural sector, said Dumitru.
"I must refer to some statistical data that show us some structural deficiencies in Romanian agriculture. Basically, Romania receives approximately 700,000 single area payment applications annually, in order to pay direct payments amounting to approximately €2.1 billion. And yet, at the end of the year, when we look at Romania's trade balance, we see that we have a trade deficit of €3.47 billion on agri-food products. Looking deeper into the picture, I see that only 86,000 are companies which are registered for tax purposes, the rest are individuals. Basically, we have a two-speed, if not three-speed, agriculture, and we will have to focus on making sustainable fiscal policies to give farmers, on the one hand, the opportunity to access Pillar 2 (EAFRD) funds for investment projects and, yes, why not, to have a fair competition on the Romanian agri-food market," said Dumitru at the launch event for the new edition of the "White Paper on Agriculture in Romania."
More focused support measures, more support for farmers’s associations
In the opinion of the MADR official, this handicap can be turned into an opportunity if, in the future, "we choose a ‘menu’ of measures from the National Strategic Plan that is not very large but that give us a chance to become an important regional player in terms of food products," given that Romania is the fifth largest agricultural country in the European Union based on its total agricultural area.
"To give you an example, we did an analysis (…) on the former measure 4.1 ‘Investments in the purchase of agricultural machinery’. We had a budget of €1.31 billion, with which we financed 1,069 beneficiaries, with an average project value of €550,000 and an aid intensity of 81%. What I want to show with these figures is that we gave a lot of money to very few people, and the need for funding in agriculture is extremely high. In order to be competitive, we need to make farmers associate. We cannot force them to associate, but only through incentives. And then we should think very seriously about whether we could transfer [funds] from Pillar 1 (direct payments) to Pillar 2 (rural development) for certain measures dedicated to bringing farmers together, to increase their competitiveness," he added.
Tax registration is necessary for a level-playing field
The Secretary of State pointed out that, under Pillar 1, Romania pays €474 million as area payments to 38,003 individual farmers who are not registered for tax purposes. And the amounts granted are larger than €5000. This situation will have to be rectified in the future, as besides generating unfair competion it is also keeping these farmers in an area of underdevelopment, with no access to credit or to EU investments funds.
White Paper on Agriculture in Romania
The White Paper presents an assessment of the current state of agriculture and identifies the main challenges and opportunities for the coming years. In the context of global economic and climate change, this paper provides a detailed overview of the agricultural sector, supported by statistical data, interviews, and economic analyses conducted in 2025. The document focuses on the situation of agricultural SMEs, emphasizing development strategies, access to finance, human resources, and market dynamics.
The most important aspects highlighted in the analysis for 2025
- The main support measures in agriculture are: subsidies/aid (39.50%,) VAT reduced to 9% (34.50%), tax for micro-enterprises (26.75%).
- The main public policy needs in agriculture are: increased subsidies (30.5%), development of the irrigation system (33%), and amendment of the land lease law (39.75%).
- The most important financial risks reported by entrepreneurs were: low income (37.33%) and insufficient resources for payment (30.77%).
- The main market risks mentioned by respondents were: the cost of raw materials and energy (56.05%), the price of crops (38.62%) and high competition (34.66%).
- The average net salary in agriculture was approximately 3,972 RON per month, about 20% lower than the national average salary as a result of this year's withdrawal of minimum wage benefits.