Mehedinti (Romania)
High Nature Value farmland: Case study report
Mehedinti county is located in the west of Romania, where the Carpathians cross the Danube. The 4900 km2 county consists broadly of a north-western mountainous fringe, a central hilly zone and the plains of the Danube lowlands in the south.
80% of grasslands are located in the hilly and mountainous area, which is where HNV farmland is concentrated. Farming is limited in the Portile de Fier (Iron Gates) National Park in the west of the county. 23% of the county’s pastures are publicly owned and administered. Small farms are dominant in the HNV areas.
The major issues to emerge in the workshop both revolved around the central importance of the actions and attitudes of various State organisations in the county. One aspect was their function as administrators of communal land – a major part of farmers’ forage resource, and central to their optimal use of new area-based rural development schemes. Another was the key role of the advisory service in assisting small farmers to adapt both to new regulations and new opportunities for support.
Some key messages:
- The introduction of CAP rules and support mechanisms is a great challenge for small producers: advisory services, agricultural staff and administrators in charge of communal land must be proactive
- These local services must be nurtured and valued by central Government and kept abreast of policy developments. Equally the resource which a large network of local staff represents in terms of potential intelligence gathering at the local level needs to be better appreciated and developed.
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Workshop agenda
Workshop presentations
- Agriculture in Mehedinti [RO] Dragos Ispasoiu, Agricultural consultant (.ppt, 1.264 KB)
- What is High Nature Value Farmland?? Gwyn Jones, expert, EFNCP (.ppt, 5.554 KB)
- Biodiversity in Mehedinti [RO] - Sorina Mataca, biologist, Museum of the Iron Gates Region - Drobeta Turnu Severin (.ppt):
Part 1 (898 KB), Part 2 (1.046 KB), Part 3 (10.276 KB), Part 4 (3.216 KB), Part 5 (11.604 KB), Part 6 (7.819 KB), Part 7 (415 KB)
