Orchards discarded by Government left to perish

Old orchards that were discarded by the Government are filled with weeds, because there is no money to clear them. Due to the lack of an agricultural census, the authorities cannot even state the exact surface of these orchards. “In 2001, 36,000 out of 100,000 hectares of orchards had their terms expired, and were supposed to be cleared, but since then till 2012 a long time has passed, and we didn’t do any estimative study”, said Mihail Suvac, chief of the market policies for vegetal goods Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. After the amendment of the Law on orchards and vineyards, the Government only discards orchards; the vineyards are under the jurisdiction of local authorities. “It would be good if the Government would clear the orchards, since it is the institution that discards them. However, nothing happens. Due to lack of funds the trees remain on the spot”, Mihail Suvac mentioned. In order to be cleared and reintroduced to the production circuit, the orchards must be discarded by the Government first, and then trees must be cut, roots taken out, soil leveled, and a whole other set of tasks. “On the whole, one can say that a major part of the orchards are expired”, added Mihail Suvac, pointing out that the situation is quite the same with vineyards. At the General Assembly of the Fruit Producers’ Association (APFM), which took place several months ago, it was mentioned that the fruit sector needs a long-lasting development strategy. According to experts, around 60% of the current orchards should be cleared for either being too old or for having low yields.