The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Florin Barbu, declared on Tuesday, in Zalau, that Romania invested a lot in raising pigs, without taking into account the reproduction aspect, which was not correct, from his point of view.
"And on the pork sector side, the policies that were, I don't want to comment on them, were my colleagues who led the Ministry of Agriculture, but I tell you that the policies were not made correctly. I tell you this, why? Because a lot was invested in the growing pork sector. We didn't realize, complementary, to come up with breeding farms. Because a lot of farmers who made these fattening pig farms were purchasing that piglet from the European Union, at a price of 125 euros. We now produce it in Romania for 60 euros. With an import of three million piglets, to populate the fattening farms in Romania, 210 million euros were going abroad. And this money had to remain in the pockets of the farmers, in the farmers' accounts, to be capitalized and to continue developing", declared Florin Barbu, at a meeting with farmers and authorities from Salaj.
In context, he stated that Romania is doing very well in the poultry sector, where chicken production has increased significantly.
"I don't know if you know, I want to announce to you, Romania has reached a degree of self-sufficiency of 170% in the chicken poultry sector, at the level of the European Union. We exported over 200 million chickens last year, we exported the best chicken, with the cleanest label, because Romanian chicken is raised with 70-90% corn", emphasized Florin Barbu.
The Minister of Agriculture is present, on Tuesday, in Zalau, at a meeting organized by the National Rural Network and addressed to farmers, beneficiaries of European funding and central and local public authorities, to facilitate access to Common Agricultural Policy funds, as well as to identify solutions for the difficulties encountered in the implementation process of European funds dedicated to agriculture and rural development.
Comentează