Number of farms drops over past years, so do cattle and pig herds (INS data)

The number of agricultural exploitation units reached 3.422 million last year, lower by 5.7 percent compared to the one recorded in 2013 and by 11.3 percent lower than in 2010, a release of the National Institute of Statistics (INS) sent to AGERPRES on Friday reveals. 

"In 2016, the number of agricultural exploitation units stood at 3,422 million, lower by 5.7 percent compared to the one recorded in the 2013 Structural Agriculture Survey and, by 11.3 percent lower compared to the 2010 General Agricultural Census. The number of farms without legal personality was 3.396 million, lower by 5.7 percent than in 2013, and the number of agricultural exploitation units with legal personality was 26,000, by 6.4 percent lower than in 2013," the document mentions. 

The agricultural land area used by farms declined by 4.2 percent compared to the one recorded in the 2013 Structural Agriculture Survey and by 6 percent compared to the 2010 General Agricultural Census. 

The agricultural land area used on average in 2016 on a farm stood at 3.65 hectares, compared to 3.6 hectares in 2013. 

According to the quoted source, the number of agricultural exploitation units with less than one hectare used is declining. 

According to INS, over 61 percent of the land used belongs to those using it. 

In 2016, cattle and pigs herds dropped by 4.5 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively, while sheep and goat herds increased by 1.8 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively, in 2013. 

In respect to the volume of work in farms, expressed in annual work units (AWU), in 216, it recorded a drop compared to the one recorded in the 2013 Structural Agriculture Survey. 

"In 2016, the volume of work recorded by farms without legal personality stood at 1429 thousand AWU, while the one recorded in farms with legal personality stood at 58 thousand AWU. Compared to the data of 2012, the volume of work recorded in 2016 dropped by 5.4 percent for farms without legal personality and by 17.5 percent for farms with legal personality," INS mentions.