Archive:Agricultural census in Romania
- Data from November 2012. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
This article is part of a series of country-specific essays on the results of the European Union (EU) Farm structure survey (FSS) 2010. The FSS collects information on the structural characteristics of the agricultural holdings (land use, livestock and labour force) and is carried out every 10 years as an Agricultural census by all the EU Member States, with two or three additional, intermediate sample surveys carried out in-between. In Romania, the Agricultural census 2010 was the second one to be fully harmonised with the EU regulations and the first one to be conducted after the country’s accession to the European Union in 2007. The present analysis of the farm structure includes a comparison with the previous (2002) Agricultural census. Although the reference years of the Agricultural census in Romania were 2002 and 2010 respectively, the common designation is Agricultural census 2000 and 2010.
Source: Eurostat (ef_kvaareg) (ef_ov_kvaa) (demo_pjan) and FSS 2003 and 2010
Source: Eurostat (ef_kvaareg) (ef_ov_kvaa) and FSS 2003 and 2010
_by_UAA_size_classes_RO_2010.PNG)
Source: Eurostat (ef_kvaareg) (ef_ov_kvaa)
Source: Eurostat (ef_kvftreg)
Source: Eurostat (ef_lu_ovcropaa) (ef_oluaareg)
Source: Eurostat (ef_lu_ovcropaa) (ef_oluaareg)
Source: Eurostat (ef_mptenure)
Source: Source: Eurostat (ef_pmhouscatlaa)
Main statistical findings
Key indicators
About 3.8 million agricultural holdings were recorded in Romania in 2010; this value, which indicated a 14 % decrease compared to 2000 (- 625 850 farms), was by far the highest one recorded within the EU-27.
As exhibited in Table 1, also the utilised agricultural area (UAA) indicated a remarkable value (13.3 million ha), which was found to be similar to the one recorded in Poland (14.4 million ha) and Italy (12.8 million ha). Despite the fact that it lost 624 580 hectares (-4.5 %) over the inter-census timeframe, in relative terms, the agricultural area covered 56 % of the Romanian territory in 2010.
Given that the fall in the number of holdings was sharper than the decrease in the agricultural land, the average area per farm slightly increased (+ 11 %): from 3.1 hectares per farm in 2000 to 3.4 ha per holding in 2010. This phenomenon, which was commonly observed throughout the EU-27, appeared to be weaker in Romania than in the majority of the EU Member States.
In Romania, the number of regular farm employees was found to be remarkably high, as about 7.1 million people were found to be working in agriculture in 2010. Between the two reference years, the regular agricultural labour force dropped by 19.4 % – in relative terms, about 1.7 million persons stopped working on the farms. Nonetheless, the Romanian agricultural labour force represented 76 % of the active population[1] in 2010, by far the highest shares recorded among the EU Member States.
In absolute terms, the livestock population – expressed in livestock units (LSU) – dropped by about 1.8 LSU over the period under analysis. However, 5.4 million LSU were recorded in Romania in 2010; from among the other EU Member States, Ireland (5.8 million LSU) and Denmark (4.9 million LSU) recorded similar values.
Regional key indicators
Presenting the regional peculiarities, Table 2 provides further insight into the structure of the Romanian agriculture. The region “Sud – Muntenia” recorded the highest number of holdings (800 830), accounting for 20.8 % of the entire population of farms in Romania. The “Nord – Est” territory registered a slightly smaller number (790 790), accounting for 20.5 % of the farm population. On the opposite end of the scale, the metropolitan area of “Bucuresti – Ilfov” recorded the smallest number (33 490) and accounted for a marginal 0.9 %; in 2000, its share was bigger (1.6 %), with 71 780 holdings recorded within its borders.
Also in terms of the agricultural area, the region of “Sud – Muntenia” recorded the highest share (17.5 %), corresponding to 2.3 million hectares. In 2010, the territory of “Sud – Est” registered the second widest agricultural area (2.2 million ha) and accounted for 16.5 % of the Romanian UAA: +45 200 hectares compared to 2000. Although it fell below the 2 million hectares threshold between the two reference years, the “Nord – Est” territory recorded the third largest agricultural land (1.9 million ha) and accounted for 14.6 % of the country’s agricultural area in 2010. As regards the number of farms, taking into account the agricultural area, the capital region of “Bucuresti – Ilfov” proved to have a marginal share of 0.5 %: the UAA recorded within its borders more than halved over the inter-census period, from 210 970 ha to 62 450 ha.
According to the FSS 2010, the “Nord – Est” region was the only Romanian territory which recorded the livestock unit (LSU) of over a million in 2010. Hence, it accounted for 18.4 % of the farm animal population – the corresponding share (18.7 %) was slightly higher in 2000. The second highest population of livestock in Romania (16 %) was recorded within the borders of “Sud – Muntenia” (869 440 LSU). In 2000, the aforementioned region shared 17.3 % and indicated the value of 1.2 million LSU (+385 170 LSU). The “Sud – Est” (800 190 LSU) and the “Nord – Vest” (769 190 LSU) regions recorded similar shares – 14.7 % in the south-eastern territory, 14.1 % in the north-western one – and both showed signs of decrease compared to 2000.
Also in terms of the labour force, the territories of “Nord – Est” and “Sud – Mutenia” proved to be the most important ones in 2010. In particular, the north-eastern region accounted for 20.5 % of the Romanian agricultural labour force, since about 1.5 million people were found to be regularly working on the farms within its territory (-280 420 persons compared to 2000). In the region of “Sud – Mutenia”, the regular agricultural labour force indicated the value of 1.4 million and accounted for 20.3 %; a very similar share (20.2 %) was registered in 2000.
Agricultural holdings
In Romania, about 2.9 million farms were found to have less than 2 hectares of agricultural land in 2010. Despite the fact that they accounted for 74 % of the entire population of farms, these holdings proved to cover a minor 13 % of the country’s UAA. On the other end of the scale, agricultural holdings with 50 hectares or more of UAA were found to account for 53 % of the whole agricultural area, although they represented only 1 % of the Romanian population of farms.
As exhibited in Figure 1, also agricultural holdings with 2 to 4.9 hectares of agricultural land recorded remarkable values: they indicated the value of 727 390 – 19 % of the whole population of farms – and were found to cover about 2.2 million hectares of UAA (17 %) in 2010.
The strong fragmentation of the structure of the Romanian agriculture partially derives from the agrarian reform which took place during the 1990’s. This process, which had a slow course and lasted until 2005, deeply changed the structure of the agricultural land as the private agricultural area increased from about 15 % in 1989 to 55 % in 2002. In particular, the privatisation process lead to the parcelling of land into small pieces on the one hand, and the establishment of large commercial enterprises on the other hand (Banski, J.) [2].
See detailed data at NUTS 2 level for 2003 and 2010
Economic size of the farm
As presented in Table 3, the economic size of all the Romanian agricultural holdings indicated the value of EUR 10 420 million in 2010. This figure, which is calculated by adding all the standard output (SO) per hectare of crop and per head of livestock of the farms, represented a 3 % increase compared to 2007: among the other EU Member States, the Netherlands (EUR 18 929 million) and Denmark (EUR 8 490 million) recorded similar values.
In Romania, agricultural holdings with an economic size of less than EUR 8 000 were found to be the most important ones. In 2010, they indicated the value of EUR 5 210 million and accounted for half of the SO of the country; compared to 2007, they recorded a decrease of 11 % (- EUR 953 million). On the other end of the scale, the biggest class of farms – holdings with EUR 500 000 or more of SO – indicated the value of EUR 1 928 million and were found to share 18 % of the Romanian standard output. Over the 2007-2010 timeframe, the aforementioned class of farms recorded a remarkable increase (+ EUR 953 million) and doubled its value.
Among the different regions, the territory of “Sud – Muntenia” registered the highest figure (EUR 1 891), corresponding to 18.1 % of the Romanian standard output. The “Sud – Est” (EUR 1 740) and the “Nord – Est” (EUR 1 701) territories recorded very similar values and both accounted for about 16 % of the country’s standard output in 2010. On the opposite end of the scale, the metropolitan area of “Bucuresti – Ilfov” recorded the lowest share (0.9 %) and was the only territory not to register a double digit share.
See detailed data at NUTS 2 level for 2010 and 2007
Agricultural holding by main type of farming
As exhibited in Figure 2, if the main type of farming is taken into account, holdings specialised in various crops and livestock combined proved to be the most common: they represented 16 % of the total population of farms in 2010. The second most common type of farms were those specialised in general field cropping (15 %), followed by farms dedicated to poultry (11 %), various granivores combined (10 %) and holdings specialised in mixed, mainly grazing, livestock (10 %).
In terms of the economic size, the ranking of the holdings looks different, as farms specialised in cereals, oilseed and protein crops (15 %) were found to be the most important. Farms dedicated to mixed livestock, mainly grazing livestock, recorded a very similar share (14 %), followed by both holdings dedicated to sheep, goat and other grazing livestock (11 %), and farms dedicated to various crops and livestock combined (11 %).
See detailed data at NUTS 2 level for 2010
Land use
The Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) is the total area taken up by arable land, permanent grassland and meadow, permanent crops and kitchen gardens, which is used by the holding, regardless of the type of tenure or whether it is used as a part of common land.
Covering about 96 % of the Romanian agricultural area, arable land and permanent grassland and meadow were found to be its main components in 2010. Although they both recorded a decrease, their shares over the total agricultural land remained quite stable over the years. In absolute terms, arable land lost 467 330 hectares, whereas the area of permanent grassland and meadow decreased by 137 750 hectares.
See detailed data at NUTS 2 level for 2003 and 2010
Arable land
In 2010, arable land was essentially taken up by cereals, industrial crops, fallow land and fodder crops. The area dedicated to the production of cereals recorded the value of 4.9 million hectares, though it indicated a loss of 1 million hectares compared to 2000. On the contrary, industrial crops gained about 400 000 hectares over the period under analysis, indicating the value of 1.5 million ha in 2010. Fallow land, which is the land that was not seeded during the reference period, was found to cover 952 520 hectares and gained 160 960 ha over the period under analysis; fodder crops took up further 670 770 hectares and recorded a smaller gain (+95 870 ha).
See detailed data at NUTS 2 level for 2003 and 2010
Permanent grassland
In 2010, the area dedicated to permanent grassland and meadow was found to cover 4.5 million hectares of agricultural land (33.9 %). Pasture and meadow represented the main components of permanent grassland and indicated the value of 3.8 million hectares in 2010, having decreased by 388 000 hectares over the inter-census timeframe. The remaining two components – rough grazing (2.3 %) and permanent grass land and meadow not used for production and eligible for subsidies (3.2 %) – displayed minor shares over the total UAA (see Table 4).
See detailed data at NUTS 2 level for 2003 and 2010
Livestock
Statistics on livestock use two different units of measurement: the number of heads (number of animals) and the livestock unit (LSU) – the latter allows comparison between different types of livestock.
About 5.4 million LSU were recorded in Romania in 2010, which indicated a 25 % decrease compared to 2000 (- 1.8 million LSU). Despite the fact that they showed a considerable decline (28 %), the cattle were found to be the most important livestock as they represented 31 % of the entire population of farm animals in 2010 (1.7 million LSU). Pigs had the second highest share (1.4 million LSU) and accounted for one fourth of the entire population of farm animals; however, they recorded a -26 % decrease compared to 2000. Other remarkable shares were registered by poultry (17.7 %) and sheep (15.5 %); while poultry experienced a severe decrease (-34 %), sheep actually increased by 16 % between the two reference years.
Within the 2000-2010 timeframe, the fall in the number of livestock (-24.9 %) was sharper than the decrease in the Romanian population (-1.4 %). As a result, the number of livestock per inhabitant dropped, from 0.33 to 0.25. Similarly, the number of holdings with livestock decreased (-36 %) more than the total population of farms (-14 %). Hence, the ratio of farms with livestock to the population of agricultural holdings dropped, from 98.4 % in 2000 to 73.5 % in 2010. However, Romania still remained one the EU-27 countries with highest number of farms with livestock.
Similarly to many other European Member States, the decrease in the number of farms with livestock in Romania was not evenly distributed among the population of farms. Indeed, it mostly characterized small sized farms, while holdings with 15 LSU or more recorded an opposite trend and increased in number. In particular, farms with 50 to 99 LSU recorded the highest increase, more than doubling their number, from 1 670 farms in 2000 to 3 530 in 2010.
The regional analysis brings insight into the territorial distribution of livestock and shows that one forth (24.6 %) of the Romanian livestock was farmed within the North-eastern territory in 2010. If pigs are taken into account, the regions of “Sud – Munteia” (17.6 %) and “Sud – Est” (17.2 %) proved to be the most important ones.
See detailed data at Nuts 2 level for 2010 and 2003
Labour force
In Romania, the agricultural labour force dropped by 19.4 % over the inter-census period: from about 8.9 million to 7.1 million people (see table 6). If the direct labour force is taken into account, in terms of the annual work unit (AWU), the fall looks much sharper (-40.3 %), as figures decreased from 2.7 million AWU to 1.6 million AWU. However, with regard to the direct agricultural labour force, Romania recorded the second highest value among the EU Member States, with Poland recording the highest (1.9 million AWU) in 2010.
In terms of sole holders, the gender cleavage proved to have declined in Romania, as the female share of sole holders increased from 28 % to 48 % over the timeframe under analysis.
See detailed data at NUTS 2 level on holders' age and gender for 2010 and 2003
See detailed data at NUTS 2 level on type of labour force for 2010 and 2003
Management practices
Type of tenure
In Romania, 60 % of the agricultural area (8 million ha) belonged to the farmers who actually worked on that land (see Table 7). Further 3.6 million hectares of agricultural land (27.4 %) were found to be farmed by tenants, whereas 12.3 % (1.6 million ha) corresponded to the agricultural area utilised in partnership by the landlord and the sharecropper under a written or an oral share-farming contract.
Animal housing
Among the EU Member States, Romania reported the highest number of holdings with cattle in 2010 – 728 020 farms farming about 2 million heads of cattle – with Poland scoring the second highest figure (514 120 farms with cattle). As exhibited in Table 9, the vast majority of these holdings (61 %) were classified as hosting cattle in the generic “other” category (about 1.6 million places). Both in terms of the number of holdings (246 000) and the number of places (1.1 million), the second most common type of housing for cattle was found to be the one were animals are tied stable with solid dung and liquid manure.
The total number of places in Romania (3.6 million) largely exceeded the number of heads of cattle (about 2 million), suggesting that the hosting capacity of the country was not fully exploited – this also explains why the related percentage was more than 100. If this phenomenon had already been observed in other EU member States, in Romania it reached the highest proportions.
Other gainful activities
In 2010, 42 750 holdings proved to have other gainful activities in Romania. Although in relative terms such activities had a low share – only 1.1 % of the country’s population of farms recorded extra source of income – Romania was among the EU Member states reporting the highest number of farms with activity other than farm work, directly related to the holding and having an economic impact on it.
As exhibited in Table 10, the highest number of farms with other gainful activities in Romania (9 510) was registered within the borders of “Sud Muntenia”, which accounted for about 22 % of the entire population of holdings with other gainful activities.
Information on other gainful activities was collected by eleven category types depending on their characteristics and each holding could register more than one activity.
Processing of farm products was by far the most common source of extra income, as this extra activity was observed on 25 340 farms in 2010. Furthermore, contractual work was found to be practiced by 8 470 holdings, mostly engaged in contractual agricultural work (7 250). When analysing data on other gainful activities, it must be noted that holdings involved in more than one gainful activity were counted more than once.
See detailed data at NUTS 2 level for 2003
Data sources and availability
Methodological notes Romania – Agricultural census 2010
In Romania, the Agricultural Census 2010 was the second one to be conducted in compliance with the EU legislation, and the first one to be carried out after the country’s accession to the European Union on the 1st of January 2007. The FSS 2010 was a joint effort of the National Institute of Statistics, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Administration and Interior.
Survey on agricultural production methods (SAPM)
In 2010 a unique survey was carried out together with the Agricultural census, the Survey on agricultural productions methods (SAPM). This survey collected data at regional level needed to establish agri-environmental indicators as indicated in COM final 508/2006 and to evaluate the greening of the Common agricultural policy.
Data were collected according to the specifications listed in Annex V of the above mentioned regulation, namely data on tillage methods, soil conservation, landscape features, animal grazing, animal housing, manure application, manure storage and treatment facilities and irrigation.
In Romania, the SAPM was conducted as an exhaustive survey together with the Agricultural census.
Reference period
In Romania, information on the FSS 2010 was collected as of the 1st of December 2010. However, data on land use, irrigation, soil conservation, organic farming, grazing, animal housing and manure, agricultural labour force and other gainful activities refer to the crop year 2010 (30 September 2009 – 1 October 2010). Information on landscape figures and rural development measures was collected with reference to the three years prior to the 1st of December 2010.
Threshold for agricultural holdings
Both the FSS and the SAPM targeted all the farms complying with the EU definition of agricultural holding, as it is stated in articles 2 and 3 of Regulation (EC) Number 1166 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Accordingly, all single units, (both technically and economically) which at the reference date had a single management and which undertook agricultural activities, either as a main or as a secondary activity were targeted, provided they had more than 0.15 hectares of utilised agricultural area, they farmed a big animal (cattle, swine, sheep or goat) or they had more than 10 poultry.
Common land
Common land is the land that does not directly belong to any agricultural holding but on which common rights apply. It can consist of pasture, horticultural or other land. The treatment of the common land used by an agricultural holding might differ from country to country.
In Romania, common land is the area administered by the local councils dedicated to pasture and meadow. In 2010, it covered about 1.5 million hectares and was exploited by 2 651 special holdings identified ad-hoc to avoid double counting.
Geo-reference of the holding
In Romania, the location of the agricultural holdings was obtained by merging information from the database of the Territorial Administrative Units centroids and data from the Agricultural Census 2010.
Economic size
From FSS 2007 onwards, the Standard output (SO), a new classification of the economic size of the holding, is used. The SO has replaced the Standard gross margin (SGM) used before. Nonetheless, for comparability reasons, in FSS 2007 both classifications are available.
Other methodological issues
In Hungary, the Agricultural census 2000 did not include information on common land. Since data on common land were included in the FSS 2010, information on common land was filtered out of the 2010 data set when the two waves of the FSS were compared. On the contrary, whenever the present analysis took into account only the most recent data, figures on common land were included. Moreover, due to methodological reasons, the reference years for data on the Hungarian agricultural labour force are 2003 and 2010.
Context
European Commission Rural development policy aims to improve competitiveness in agriculture and forestry, the environment and the countryside, as well as to improve the quality of life in rural areas, and to encourage the diversification of rural economies.
As agriculture has been modernised and the importance of industry and services within the economy has increased, agriculture has become much less important as a source of jobs. Consequently, increasing emphasis is placed on the role farmers can play in rural development, including forestry, biodiversity and the diversification of the rural economy, in order to create alternative jobs and provide environmental protection in rural areas.
The FSS continues to adapt in order to provide timely and relevant data to help analyse and follow these developments.
Further Eurostat information
Publications
- Agriculture, fishery and forestry statistics — Main results – 2010-11 - 2012 edition
- Farm Structure Survey in Hungary - 2007 - Issue number 7/2009
- Farm Structure in Hungary - 2005 - Issue number 22/2006
- Structure of Agricultural Holdings - Romania 2003 - Statistics in focus 27/2004
Main tables
- Agriculture, see:
- Structure of agricultural holdings (t_ef)
Database
- Agriculture, see:
- Structure of agricultural holdings (ef)
Dedicated section
Methodology / Metadata
- Structure of agricultural holdings (ESMS metadata file - ef_esms)
- Methodological Report - FSS 2010 Romania
- Methodological Report - FSS 2007 Romania
Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)
Other information
- Regulation 1166/2008 of 19 November 2008 on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods and repealing Council Regulation 571/88
- Regulation 1200/2009 of 30 November 2009 implementing Regulation 1166/2008 on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods, as regards livestock unit coefficients and definitions of the characteristics
See also
- census 2010 Agricultural census 2010
- structure All farm structure articles by country
- structure statistics Farm structure statistics
External links
Notes
- ↑ A value calculated over the total number of active people aged 15 to 64, as it is reported by the 4th quarter 2009 of the EU Labour force survey (LFS) Population by sex, age, nationality and labour status (1 000)(lfsq_pganws).
- ↑ Jerzy Banski, Agriculture of central Europe in the period of economic transformation