Raluca Andreea Ion

Has Organic Farming Potential for Development? Comparative Study in Romania and Serbia

Abstract Nowadays, in the EU and worldwide, agriculture and food industry face new trends of developing green alternatives. This agriculture sector emerged as a result of people concerns about health and environment due to the intensification of agriculture technologies, and uses of chemicals, in both agriculture and food processing industry. These problems appeared and acknowledged by the developed countries, among others, are strictly related to environmental pollution and increasing problems of health degradation. The present study investigates the possibilities of developing organic farming in Romania and Serbia. The results show that there is a great application that can ensure its development, considering many factors relating to the way in which resources are exploited. Thus, statistical data about agricultural areas under organic farming, uncultivated areas, use of chemicals, and number of semi-subsistent farms are gathered in both countries and comparative analyzed. This article makes a foray in assessing the resources that countries can rely on in developing strategies based on organic agriculture.

IDENTIFYING THE NICHES OF MARKETS FOR SELLING ROMANIAN TRADITIONAL AGRO-FOOD PRODUCTS

This paper is trying to identify the niches of markets for selling Romanian traditional products on European market. In pursuing this, a piece of quantitative market research was developed on 500 persons from urban and rural areas. The results of the research show that the profile of the consumer of traditional food products is: women, coming from urban area, having an income between 1000 and 2000 lei, usually students or having jobs that require higher education: engineers, professors, doctors, economists etc. At the opposite side, people coming from rural area, men, aged over 56 years old, with income under 1000 lei, and jobs as administrator, farmer, owner of companies, independent professional, unemployed do not consume traditional products at all. The conclusions can be used by the producers of agro-food products, in general, and by the producers of traditional products, in particular, in their efforts of increasing their sells and profits.