Romania’s utilized agricultural area in 2013 decreased by nearly one million hectares compared to 2002, given that Romania is still the country with most agricultural holdings in the European Union, but with a low share of utilized agricultural surface, according to a recent study of National Institute of Statistics (INS).
Romania has 7.6 percent of the utilized agricultural area in EU, after France, with 27.8 million hectares (16 percent), Spain – 23.75 million hectares (13.6 percent), United Kingdom – 16 , 88 million hectares (9.7 percent), Germany – 16.7 million hectares (9.6 percent) and Poland – 14.4 million hectares (8.3 percent).
Tudorel Andrei, INS president, showed that over half (55.7 percent) of the utilized agricultural area belongs to unincorporated farms, namely family and individual businesses, and authorized individuals.
On the other hand, Romania is the largest grower of maize and sunflower in EU, with over a quarter of the total area recorded at community level for each crop and at the wheat cultivated area ranks fifth, after France, Germany, Poland and Spain.
Regarding the animals (sheep and goats), Romania ranks fourth in EU, after United Kingdom, Spain and Greece. For swine, Romania ranks ninth, behind Germany, Spain, France, Denmark, Holland, Poland, Italy and Belgium.