THE ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF FIELD CROPS CULTIVATION IN
 SOUTH ROMANIA: TRENDS AND ACTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

                               Leonardo Badea, Associate Professor
                                 Valahia University of Târgovişte
                                     leobadea@yahoo.com

                                    Mihai Mieilă, Lecturer PhD
                                  Valahia University of Târgovişte
                                       m_mieila@yahoo.com


ABSTRACT: The South of Romania experiences important climate changes, with important
effects over the traditional crops, as wheat, sunflower, and especially maize, affected very
negative by the summers’ draught. These evolutions leaded to a diminution of the agricultural
farms economic efficiency in this area. Given this situation, the farmers had to introduce new
field crops in order to improve the agricultural exploitations profitability. This paper presents
an analysis of the evolution in the area cultivated with traditional crops vs. industrial crops
and their comparative economic efficiency. Also, the unequal competition with the American
genetically modified imports and the commodities’ market underdevelopment are pointed out,
as the necessary actions to improve the situation of the farmers engaged in traditional crops
cultivation.

Key words: Efficiency analysis, traditional crops, industrial crops

JEL codes: G31