Good agricultural year expected, yet total blockage looming due to product surplus from Ukraine

Despite expectations for a good agricultural year, Romanian farmers request the European Commission's support to avert the risk of "a total blockage" caused by massive Ukrainian exports, Florentin Bercu, executive director with the National Union of the Plant Sector Cooperatives (UNCSV) said in Brussels.

"Ukrainian products are prioritized ahead of Romanian products, and we want to help them under fair and balanced terms for the Romanian and European population. The transit lanes must be implemented through seals and GPS monitoring - both upon entry and exit from the country, for the requirements to be respected, and pesticide residue tests are also needed. Please support us with the next harvesting campaign. A good agricultural year is being forecast and we'll be facing a total blockage due to the surplus of products from Ukraine. We are concerned about the next crops because of lack of storage space and there will also be no transport available if the measures proposed by the main affected states are not implemented," Florentin Bercu said.

"We hope that the authorities will understand the difficulties and the magnitude of this situation and will act accordingly in order to avoid a deadlock. If things are not sorted out, we will join forces in an action with EU-wide impact. We are forced to act in whatever way is necessary in order to protect the farmers and European production," Bercu said.

Regarding the average consumption of plant protection products, Bercu said that in Romania it stands at 640 grams per hectare, while the EU average is 2.2 kilos, Agerpres informs.

"New diseases and pests appear, and attacks have intensified, so we need more tools and solutions. We see what happens because of imports from Ukraine. A lot of products that enter the market from there include GMOs. We cannot go along with duality. European farmers are required to comply with very high quality standards, and for this reason they have much higher production costs. You cannot put the equal sign between these products and others coming from third countries that are not equally safe," Bercu added.

The representatives of the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation participated in the meetings of the COPA / COGECA presidencies held in Brussels on April 27 and 28.