Some Prospects of Romanian Vegetable Self-Sufficiency in Short and Long Term

The purpose of this chapter was to analyze the evolution of the vegetable sector, for some vegetable species found in the most vulnerable positions in terms of productivity, imports, and exports in the last years. Based on the evolution of these indicators, the paper tries to calculate some prognosis regarding the self-sufficiency in the short and long term for tomatoes, various vegetables, and vegetables in total. The Covid-19 pandemic and the recent energy crisis have further eroded the sector’s ability to recover against the background of chronic structural vulnerabilities, which mainly consist in the low degree of organization of the supply chain (only 1% of producers are organized in producer groups and organizations, while the EU average is 45%) and the low degree of production contracting. This is the reason why the prognosis remains pessimistic in the sense that Romania will not be able to attain self-sufficiency in the short and long term, unless the sector is prioritized for important investments in processing and sector organization.