Romania still counts 2.8 million small farms – largest number in Europe
Recent figures released by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) reconfirm the country’s strong agricultural profile, with more than 2.8 million farms. It can be easily said that 1 out of 3 EU farms is a Romanian farm. Although in purely economic terms, the contribution of agriculture to GDP is limited, the huge share of population relying on this sector makes its importance go far beyond economic figures.
Also the more extensive, traditional type of agriculture practiced by these agricultural holdings has had a positive contribution to the agriculture-nature equilibrium in Romania.
The number of agricultural holdings decreased in 2023 by 1% and the agricultural area used by 1.7%, compared to the General Agricultural Census 2020, according to data of INS.
If in 2020, there were 2.887 million farms in Romania, three years later their number stood at 2.859 million, of which 2.834 million were without legal personality and 25,000 with legal personality. The number of agricultural holdings with legal personality remained the same in 2023 as in 2020. These figures show little structural adjustments in the last 3 years.
According to the results obtained from the Farm Structure Survey, in the reference year 2023, a total of 2.859 million agricultural holdings used 12.55 million hectares of agricultural land. The average utilised agricultural area per agricultural holding in 2023 was 4.39 ha, compared to 4.42 ha in 2020. By categories of agricultural holdings, in 2023, the average utilised agricultural area per agricultural holding without legal personality was 2.74 ha, compared to 2.73 ha in 2020. Likewise, the average utilised agricultural area per agricultural holding with legal personality was 190.51 ha, compared to 194.78 ha in 2020.
INS data also show that the number of very small agricultural holdings, which used an agricultural area of up to one hectare, decreased in 2023 compared to 2020 by 1.3%. Both the holdings using less than 0.5 ha of agricultural area (37.3% of all agricultural holdings) and those using between 0.5 and 1 ha of agricultural area (16.3% of all agricultural holdings) contributed to this decrease.
A large part of the utilised agricultural area, 47%, was owned by users last year. Specifically, 36.8% of the utilised agricultural area was owned by agricultural holdings without legal personality and 10.2% by agricultural holdings with legal personality.
Compared to 2020, in 2023, the area used as arable land (including greenhouses) decreased by 1%, areas under grassland and meadows decreased by 2.9% and permanent crops by 5.4%. Last year, the area used as arable land fell to 8.483 million ha (from 8.571 million ha in 2020), meadows and pastures covered 3.617 million ha (3.724 million ha in 2020), permanent crops 325,000 ha (344,000 ha in 2020), and family farms occupying a slightly increasing area of 125,000 ha (compared to 124,000 ha in 2020).
While the engine of modernisation lies with the larger commercial farms (basically the 25,000 farms with legal personality), the value of the smaller family farms from a social and environmental point of view is incontestable. Romania can and should play a bigger role in food production and food security in Europe, as in this region there is still plenty of room for further development. Sustainable development, of course.