President of Confederation of Farmers: Closing markets favours supermarkets; farmers have no place to sell their products

Farmers disapprove of the measure announced by the authorities regarding the closure of agri-food markets and fairs, considering that this favours supermarkets and multinationals, and Romanian farmers will have nowhere to sell their products.

"We totally disapprove and do not agree with the closing of the agri-food markets and fairs, especially since we are now harvesting crops in the field. (...) They must try to find a way to let us sell because supermarkets do not buy our products. First of all, no one consulted us, and now, at the end of the harvest, where can the farmers go to take the 20-30 bans (division of RON), which is already not much, for their cabbage and potatoes?," Gheorghe Vlad, the head of the Confederation (CATAR) told AGERPRES on Friday.

He specified that he addressed the officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, requesting solutions in favour of the Romanian farmers, so that the fairs and agri-food markets that operate in closed spaces remain open, even if with a reduced programme.

The Association of Market Administrators in Romania also requested on Friday that all permanent agri-food markets in the country remain open, and measures to restrict activities be taken on time, where it is found that administrators do not comply with measures to prevent and combat COVID - 19.

At the same time, the Save Romanian Peasant Union protests against the recent decision of the authorities regarding the suspension of the activity of the agri-food markets in closed spaces, showing that such a measure will decapitalize the small producers encouraging the imports instead.