Romania's ploughable land area diminished from 9.5 million hectares to 8.6 million hectares, according to the country's Agriculture Minister Valeriu Tabara. 1,000 hectares of ploughable land was taken out of the agriculture circuit in each county between 2002 and 2008, to make room for various constructions and for the expansion of cities or villages.

The number of agricultural exploitations went down from 4.4 million to 3.8 million, after agricultural land was consolidated and smaller plots were adjoined in bigger areas.

According to Tabara, the low weight of the agricultural sector within the country's GDP is also good news. Romania's agriculture accounts for 6.2 percent of the GDP, which makes it a healthy economy, as the agriculture is the riskiest sector, according to Tabara.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Sxc.hu)