A Difficult Pattern to Change in Romania, the Perspective of Socio-Economic Development

Abstract

The rural area is a basic component from a socio-economic point of view, being closely linked to the activities that take place in these areas. Normally, Romanian rural localities should show significant differences from one development region to another, being influenced by a number of factors (geographical positioning, the influence of agriculture in the economy, etc.). In this sense, data were collected from the town halls of the localities from Calarasi and Timis counties. The analyzed data were processed by the linear regression method, and the estimation of the evolution of the population was determined using the Vensim simulation program. The paper identifies a pattern in rural localities in Romania that hinders their development, reflected by various socio-economic indicators available in the analyzed localities. The main factor that can change this pattern in rural localities is the influence of local and national decision-makers, who can encourage investment in these areas either through the development of local and national infrastructure or through fiscal measures that encourage the development of quality non-agricultural activities that can generate financial resources and jobs at the local level. Moreover, it is not only the low number of non-agricultural activities that is causing the poor development of rural areas, but rather the low number of economic operators in general and the quality of these types of activities, which in most cases do not have the capacity to create new jobs.

Climate Change—Between “Myth and Truth” in Romanian Farmers’ Perception

“…Although in recent years the number of holdings has decreased considerably, from 4.485 million holdings in 2002 to 2.887 million holdings registered in 2020, agricultural land fragmentation remains a topical problem characterizing Romanian agriculture [26][27][28]. The high number of agricultural holdings is mainly due to land fragmentation, a phenomenon that started immediately after 1990, when property (including agricultural land) was retroceded to living heirs [28][29][30][31].…”

“…Not so long ago, the effects of climate change were viewed with scepticism by rural people [29], whose main activity is farming, and were more likely to be attributed to folk beliefs (traditions that are sacredly observed and differ from one cultural area to another) [28,30].…”

“…Association is another bottleneck in Romanian agriculture, wherein farmers avoid cooperating to obtain better prices for inputs, attract EU funds, process production or market their products [29]. In 2020, there were only 112 agricultural cooperatives, down 48% from the previous year [30].…”

“…The value of agricultural crop production accounts for approximately 65% of the total value of agricultural production in 2020, the value of livestock production for 33% and agricultural services for only 2.3% [26,28,30]. This indicates the profile of Romanian agriculture, which relies mainly on plant-based agriculture for raw material production, without being integrated into the livestock sector, in order to obtain added value [29].…”

Labour Implications on Agricultural Production in Romania

“…Psychological expectations for the value of farmland are found to be much lower among men due to their disadvantages in receiving information through policy publici zation and their greater willingness to transition to non-agricultural employment [59] Better educated women farmers and those living in areas with greater economic and socia development expect farmland to be more valuable [60]. Agribusiness is both a complex Psychological expectations for the value of farmland are found to be much lower among men due to their disadvantages in receiving information through policy publi-cization and their greater willingness to transition to non-agricultural employment [59]. Better educated women farmers and those living in areas with greater economic and social development expect farmland to be more valuable [60].…”