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Romanian farmers receive seed donations to ensure food for their families in the coming seasons

14 Apr 2008 12:53:32 GMT
Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)

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Young girl from a beneficiary family holds in her hands packages with vegetable seeds
World Vision MEERO, http://meero.worldvision.org

Some 2400 Romanian farmers from seven rural communities in Iasi county, 450 kilometers northeast from the capital, Bucharest received vegetable seeds from World Vision Romania recently as part of a project aiming to improve living standards in rural communities, over the next four years by encouraging agricultural development and small businesses.

'The beneficiaries are small farmers who work their land, struggling to feed their families. Now that spring is here, finding the extra money to buy vegetable seed that will later on become their main source of food was a true challenge to these people. What we have tried to do is lend a helping hand in their every day fight against poverty', said Ms. Darie, project coordinator for World Vision Romania.

The seed donation was part of a new economical development project that World Vision Romania, Iasi ADP, started in last October. The project will be implemented over the four years, in five rural communities in Iasi County and is supported by World Vision Taiwan,

This project serves to further the increase the impact of an earlier community development project, World Vision Romania is hoping to help small farmers adapt to the new EU regulations and cope with the new context.

'Even if we are now an EU country, we still have many problems. People are confused about the new rules that they have to know and respect. Now, unless we have a producer's certificate, we can't sell our produces anymore. The younger generations are leaving the country in search of better paid jobs - they don't even what to hear about working the land any more. We need help, something needs to be done', acknowledged one of the project beneficiaries.

The main activities of this project includes exchanges between farmers from different parts of the County, encouraging young people in the community to sign up for agricultural training sessions, explore and discover new agricultural areas where they may develop in the future, make available informational materials (books, written courses, brochures etc.) containing information leading to a better understanding of the agricultural area and of the problems tied to it.

In Romania, 40% of the population is engaged in agricultural activities – over 5 million people are surviving by working their land. As a comparison, in the EU countries, only an average of 4, 3% of the population is working in agriculture.

Individual agricultural properties consist of small pieces of land worked by the families in improper conditions and with rudimentary tools. As jobs are scarce in rural areas, the main source of food still consist of whatever vegetable people can grow and, sometimes, of milk and cheese.

On this occasion, each beneficiary received seven packages containing cabbage, carrot, parsley and other vegetable seeds, together with a calendar of agricultural schedule for planting and gathering the crops. The total value of the donation is US $5000.

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Mon Apr 14 14:09:33 2008

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