Romania's peasant households sustain 2.8 million pigs, minister reports
Romanian Minister of Agriculture Florin Barbu has recently revealed that there are currently 2.8 million pigs raised by peasant (subsistence) households, according to his data. He also gave a glimpse of the measures that the ministry is preparing for the commercial pig farming sector in the coming period.
Florin Barbu, Romanian Minister of Agriculture, stated that "this year we already register a significant increase because the number of animals in this industry are somewhere around 4.5 million pigs. Moreover, let's not forget that we are a country with a tradition of pig farming and when I was chairman of the Agriculture Committee we did not ban pig farming in peasants’ households in Romania. And now we still have 2.8 million pigs on these farms."
Investment programs to revive pork sector
He also talked about programs targeting the pig breeding sector, underlining that his bet in the mandate he holds is to save the Romanian pork sector, a sector in continuous decline.
"Two very important investment programs have been financed and launched as early as July 15, 2023 for 63 investment in the pig and poultry breeding sector. So, after the completion of these investments by March next year, our farmers will produce more than 1.5 million piglets in the breeding sector in Romania. (…) We no longer want to continue to import piglets at a very high price of more than EUR 125-130 when a piglet in Romania is produced for EUR 60. We want this money to stop leaving Romania and to remain in the farmers' accounts. And I repeat: saving the Romanian pig sector is my bet with the Ministry of Agriculture! If I will remain Minister of Agriculture for the next four years, my project is that the trade balance in pork should be zero", said Florin Barbu.
New program to support pig farming
He announced that the ministry is working on a new programme for the pig farming sector, to be launched soon. "We are also almost finalizing a new ordinance on the development and rescue of the Romanian pig sector. Basically we will finance in 2025 and in 2026 a number of 60 farms. (…) These projects will start around December 15 and will be open until next year, i.e. February-March, so that farmers can finalize feasibility studies and submit projects," the minister added.
Earlier this year Smithfield Romania (largest pig farming operation in Romania) also announced the plan to increase its pig production to 1.5 million heads by 2026. Romania, a traditional pork consumer and once a large producer has been confronted with a constant shrinking of this sector in the last 30 years, currently importing around 70% of the domestic demand for pork, despite its potential.