Ecological agriculture around the world and in Romania

Abstract

This work presents an analysis of the international and Romanian statistic data, illustrative of the ecological agriculture sector. The ecological agriculture has known in recent years a constant development on all continents of the world. The areas ecologically certified, according to the latest international statistical data published by IFOAM and FiBL, have increased during the period 2000-2007 of about 2,5 times. With regard to the cultivated areas in the ecological agriculture, of the total agricultural area, in the world, in 2007, the first places are occupied by Oceania with 2.61% and Europe with 1.87%. As regards the number of the ecologic manufacturers, the first place belongs to Africa with 529,987 manufacturers, even if the area ecologically cultivated is the smallest in the world. In Europe, Latin America and Asia 200,000 manufacturers are registered. The ecologically certified arable areas in the world represent 14.40% of the entire certified area. The bigger arable areas are in Europe, about 3.4 million hectares, representing 72.1% of the total certified arable areas. Within the European Union, in 2007, Romania occupied the 15th position in terms of the ecologically certified agricultural area, with 131,401 hectares, which represent 1.87% of the ecological area of the European Union. In Romania, the ecologically cultivated areas have constantly increased, from 17,388 hectares in 2000 to 131,401 hectares in 2007, the most important weight being that of grass lands and hayfields.