Mihai Anghel, the owner of Cerealcom Dolj, one of the top three players on the domestic farming market, says wheat is no longer profitable enough.
Cerealcom Dolj, which farms over 22,000 ha of land, is going through a modernisation process, intending to buy American tractors worth 220,000 dollars each.
"In 1999, when I took over Cerealcom, the company was managing four silos and three collection centres, handling 50,000 tonnes of grain per year and numbering 350 employees. At that time, I felt one could do a good job in the farming sector," states Anghel.
The stock was bought entirely from the state, through an investment worth 2.7 million dollars (2.5 million euros). Cerealcom Dolj owned 30% of all the grain storage facilities in Dolj county, while the remaining 70% were owned by Comcereal Dolj.
According to Anghel, in 1998 - 2000 period, the entire farming sector from that region collapsed and many companies that operated in the cereal production field disappeared.
"Cereals were no longer produced, while more and more plots remained fallow. At that time, we took the risk represented by agricultural production, we wanted to cover the void that was naturally forming. The state kept on selling the IAS (state-owned farming) companies such as Cervina Segarcea and Redias Redea," says Anghel.
Over four years, the management and technology have been replaced by more modern ones, the land was cultivated and chemically treated until it became highly fertile.
At the beginning, at Redias, 5,000 ha of arable land were farmed by 345 people and 115 tractors (65 HP each).
At the moment, the company manages 5,500 ha, cultivated by 35 employees and 10 tractors of 200 and 270 HP.
The investments made in the three production facilities exceeded 20 million dollars during the 2000 - 2006 period.
Out of the total 22,000 hectares farmed 15,000 hectares used to be cultivated with wheat until this year.
The year 2006 was the first when the amount of land cultivated with wheat was cut down to 10,000 hectares, with more land allocated to rape and sunflower.
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