RO Prime Minister: Government kept its promises to farmers
The Government has kept its promise of granting subsidies in agriculture on time, in the first semester of 2018, the subsidies paid to Romanian farmers amounting to 1.7 billion euro, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said as she presented the government's six-month assessment report.
Rebuilding the irrigation system is one of the most important projects in agriculture, said the Prime Minister. "We promised, during the election campaign, that we will reach an irrigated area of 2 million hectares until 2020. Now, after an year and a half, we have reached 1.2 million hectares," Dancila mentioned.
She also talked about the programme for wool collection. "Before the current PSD-ALDE coalition came to government, approximately 70 percent of the wool produced in Romania was burned, because there were no use for it, nor collection centres. This semester, there are 32,328 sheep farmers that are enlisted in this programme, which grants 1 leu (approx. 22 eurocents) for each kilogram of collected wool. Thus, as many as 8,865 tons of wool were collected, of which 3,444 tons were exported. In the pig farming sector, the Government has undertaken the first concrete rescue action of two breeds of pigs, which are highly appreciated by consumers, namely Bazna and Mangalita," premier Dancila mentioned.
The Prime Minister also reviewed the implementation stage of the anti-hail programme, saying that "we currently have over 60 launch points for anti-hail missiles, of which 26 were completed in the first semester of 2017. Presently, there is a total of over 870,000 hectares protected against hail. Until March 2019 another 63 launch points will be finished", she showed.
PM Dancila also reviewed the "Tomatoes from Romanian farms" programme.
"I remind you of the 2016 situation which determined us to introduce this programme. We then had roughly 50,000 tons of imported tomatoes, while we exported only 3,000 tons. Today, after implementing this programme, we have managed to produce in Romania 65,544 tons and we will reach 90,000 tons by the end of the year, nearly double the amount of imports," the Prime Minister declared.
Agerpres – www.agerpres.ro, July 2018
