The plant production ebbed to 1.1 per cent last year, compared to 2008. Thus, lower figures were reported in grist grain, grist vegetables, oil plants, sugar beet and grapes, and higher figures for potatoes, other vegetables and fruit trees, according to data provided by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), Mediafax informs.
In grist grain, Romania mainly cultivates grist corn (44.3 per cent of the surface cultivated with grist grain) and wheat (40.8 per cent). The grist grain production is 11.2 per cent lower than the preceding year (14.93 million tons as compared to 16.826 million tones in 2008), especially because of a decrease in yield per hectare (average production per hectare), thus: wheat (-30.0 pc), barley and two-row barley (-26.4 pc), oats (-23.7 pc). There has been a 5.3 per cent growth in grist corn yield per hectare, and a 2.4 per cent growth in the total production. At the same time, the production of grist vegetables slumped with 16.1 per cent, as a consequence of the decreased average production per hectare, while the cultivated surface is 5.4 per cent larger. In oil plants, the production decreased with 9.7 per cent, while the surface is 3.3 per cent larger. There have been lower production levels in sunflower (-7.4 pc), soy (-6.6 pc) and rape (-15 pc), although the surface cultivated with rape rose with 17.8 per cent. Sugar beet also registered a 3.1 per cent lower production rate, mainly because of a lower yield per hectare, although the cultivated surface remained unchanged. In potatoes, the production rose with 9.9 per cent, because of a rise in yield per hectare, on the same cultivated surface. There has been a 1.5 per cent growth in vegetables production as well, although the cultivated surface was 1.5 per cent smaller. There have been higher production rates in: melons and cantaloupes (+17.8 pc), cabbage (+3.3 pc), peppers (+3.3 pc), cucumbers (+0.6 pc) and lower rates in: carrots (-8.1 pc), tomatoes (-7.1 pc) and onion (-4.5 pc).
In 2009, there has been a slight decrease in grapes production, due mainly to the reduction of cultivated surfaces, both in grafted vineyards (-5.9 pc), as well as in hybrid vineyards (-4.3 pc), while the yield per hectare was 4.8 per cent higher than 2008. The production of orchard fruit rose with 1.6 per cent, compared to the preceding year.
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