Module 2 - Romania: Competitive Grant Support for Providing Technology and Information to Private Farmers

Agriculture is a major contributor to Romania’s economy, accounting for 20 percent of GDP and about 35 percent of all employment in the country. Despite Romania’s rich natural resource base, agricultural production has been well below its potential. The abrupt change to a market economy in 1991 and the emergence of about 3.6 million private farmers had significant implications for the agricultural sector. There was an urgent need to generate, acquire, and disseminate appropriate agricultural technology so private farmers could become efficient and competitive in the new market economy. The agricultural research and extension system, which had been driven by ministries, academies, and universities, was in general disarray. Traditionally technology had been transferred directly from research institutes to managers and technicians employed by state and collective farms; no extension or advisory services were available for private farmers. The old system had been characterized by narrowly focused academic research; public sector dominance; insufficient financial resources, talent, incentives, and motivation; and too many institutions, with ill-equipped, outdated laboratories and little accountability to stakeholders.

The government’s strategy for the agricultural sector is to transform farming households into profitable farm enterprises. In this context, Romania’s accession to the EU in 2007 underscores the urgency of reforming the organization and management of the national agricultural research and extension system to improve the overall performance of the agricultural sector. The Romania Agricultural Support Services Project, while acknowledging the need for a comprehensive strategy for reforming agricultural research and extension, recognized that reform was a long-term undertaking, requiring substantial resources, and that first there was an urgent need to provide appropriate technology and information rapidly to private farmers. To meet this need, the project adopted a Competitive Grant Scheme (CGS), which provided an efficient, cost-effective mechanism for using the scarce skilled human resources and limited facilities in Romania to yield rapid results. Without the need for large investments, the grant scheme not only improved the overall performance of the agricultural sector but also helped to improve farmers’ incomes. The program encouraged and enabled the introduction of modern techniques and ideas into the research and extension system, reoriented the institutions to address issues and problems confronting farmers rather than conduct purely academic research, and ensured closer collaboration between the research and extension community and newly emerging private farms.