Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 17 ISSUE 2
Written by Aurel LUP, Liliana MIRON, Indira Deniz ALIM

The crop yields’ index – aka the agricultural output per unit area (hectares – ha) of cultivated land – is the best and most synthetic tool for analysing the agricultural sector’s technological level and/or its overall competitiveness. In this regard, Romania is a truly special case. Before WW2, the country’s main crop yields were largely comparable to those of other European countries. After the war, Romania invested greatly in its agriculture as it was finding it increasingly difficult to keep pace with the most agriculturally advances nations in Western Europe. Yet, rather than diminishing, the gap registered with regard to crop yields per hectare grew increasingly larger. At present, the cereal crop yields per hectare in Romania compares negatively to agriculturally advanced countries in Western Europe reaching only between 3-4 tonnes/ha. Aware of this dire situation, Romanian specialists proceeded to draft agricultural strategies that made the higher productivity yields envisaged wholly dependent on the proper allocation of inputs to this end. This paper is a synthesis of the studies and strategies carried out over the past decades aiming to meet a host of envisaged performance indicators in the area of crop yields/agricultural outputs per unit area (ha) of cultivated land. Rehabilitating irrigation systems while observing the existing environmental protection measures in place, doubling (at least) the quantities of chemical fertilizers used to this end and solving a host of apparently intractable management issues are the main factors that may help with reaching such indicators.

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