Limiting Factors that Influence the Formation of Producer Groups in the South-East Region of Romania: A Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA)

Andrei-Mirel Florea, Alexandru Capatina, Riana Iren Radu, Constanța Serban (Bacanu), Madalina Georgiana Boboc, Cristina Stoica (Dinca), Mihaela Munteanu (Pila), Iuliana Manuela Ion (Dumitriu) and Silvius Stanciu
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Alexandru Capatina: Departament of Business Administration, Dunarea de Jos University/Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, 800001 Galati, Romania
Constanța Serban (Bacanu): The School for Doctoral Studies in Engineering, “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, 800001 Galati, Romania
Madalina Georgiana Boboc: The School for Doctoral Studies in Engineering, “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, 800001 Galati, Romania
Cristina Stoica (Dinca): The School for Doctoral Studies in Engineering, “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, 800001 Galati, Romania
Mihaela Munteanu (Pila): The School for Doctoral Studies in Engineering, “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, 800001 Galati, Romania
Iuliana Manuela Ion (Dumitriu): The School for Doctoral Studies in Engineering, “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, 800001 Galati, Romania
Silvius Stanciu: Center for Technology Transfer, “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, 800001 Galati, Romania

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: The fragmentation of the Agricultural Real Estate in Romania, which is due to the lack of vision regarding the retrocession of the land and to the ineffective measures for reparcelling farmland, manifests by the existence of a record number of about 3422 million farms in Romania, of which about 92% have a utilized agricultural area (UAA) below 5 ha. The Romanian agricultural sector possesses about 30% of the total European farms but contributes only 3% to the total EU agricultural production. The association of local agricultural producers may be an alternative to reparcelling farmland on a short-term basis in order to reduce the fragmentation degree and increase the competitiveness of the national agricultural sector. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 25 active groups of agricultural producers are registered in the South-East Region in 2018, where these associative entities have been recorded to have a low degree of viability. The paper proposes an analysis on the farmers’ motivation regarding the access to/exit from a form of agricultural association and the identification of some alternatives for increasing the viability of the associative forms in the agricultural sector in the South-East of Romania. In this respect, a study was carried out on a sample of 16 entities that gave up their status of producer groups in the analyzed region in 2011–2018. The Fuzzy Set Quantitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) Qualitative analysis method was applied, which identified the main influence factors that have led to the disappearance of this associative form. We consider this study relevant for drawing attention to the main obstacles that Romanian farmers face in joining an associative form. The study has shown that mainly the factors directly influenced by government policies have led to the withdrawal of a relatively large number of producers from producer groups in the studied region.

Keywords: Romania; agriculture; association; fsQCA; producer groups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:6:p:1614-:d:214711

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