Romania’s agriculture production dropped 65 percent last year over the previous one affected by the severe drought which destroyed one third of the crops last summer, according to the country’s statistics body INS.

The most damaged crops were wheat, barley, maize, sunflower and soy, plus vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and cabbage.

The maize production decreased 57.2 percent, wheat dropped 43.6 percent, sunflower output was 2.8 times smaller in 2007 versus 2006, INS said in an e-mail today. However, the rape production rose two-fold after the cultivated surface was expanded 3.1 times.

Grape output suffered a 3.4 percent drop and the average production per hectare lost 2.4 percent in 2007 versus 2006. Fruit production in orchards also reduced 17.4 percent owing to the dry weather last year.

The drought wiped out hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops in June and July and authorities have scrambled for solutions on how to expand and properly implement a working irrigation network after the prime minister criticized the way the situation had been handled to that date.

Romania, which joined the European Union at the beginning of January last year, is mostly an agriculture country, about half of its population being in the rural areas and involved in agriculture-linked occupations.

NewsIn