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Tag: Stefan Poienaru

  • Viziunea unuia din cei mai mari mosieri din tara: Cum ar trebui sa arate o ferma ideala

    “Eu nu-mi doresc sa am atat de mult teren cat am acum. Personal,
    nu cred in viitorul exploatatiilor mari”, replica insa Stefan
    Poienaru. Modelul de agricultura pe care il vede pentru Romania
    este cel al unei suprafete de teren de dimensiuni mici, de tip
    familial, in care proprietarii sa stie exact ce resurse au folosit
    si sa beneficieze in totalitate de roadele muncii lor. In viziunea
    lui, implicarea directa a familiilor ar duce la o mai buna
    gestionare a exploatatiei, a carei suprafata optima ar trebui sa
    aiba in jur de 300-500 ha.

    “Politica Agricola Comuna se va orienta spre exploatatiile mici,
    din proprietatea tinerilor, pentru ca aceasta este tendinta in
    Vest. Exploatatiile mari, ca acelea din Ucraina sau Rusia, nu sunt
    agreate de UE, pentru ca ele creeaza concurenta neloiala
    fermierilor mici”, crede Poienaru. In plus, contribuabilul european
    ar putea fi deranjat de ideea de a subventiona un mare cultivator
    in detrimentul unui fermier mic care practica agricultura de
    subzistenta. De aceea, Poienaru declara ca este pregatit sa inceapa
    divizarea companiilor sale in exploatatii mai mici. Optiunea
    potrivita ar fi o impartire pe ferme, in care salariatii vor deveni
    participanti directi la castig.

    Actualmente, holdingul controlat de Poienaru cuprinde cinci
    societati. Agrofam Prod se ocupa cu gestionarea terenului din
    Insula Mare a Brailei, iar Agrofam Com cu terenul din afara
    Insulei. Agrofam Trading este societatea care se ocupa de partea
    comerciala a grupului – comert cu cereale, export si aprovizionare
    a grupului. “E mult mai usor ca o companie sa negocieze pentru tot
    grupul, deoarece cumparand cantitati mari putem beneficia de
    discounturi de pana la 40% din pretul de lista”, explica
    proprietarul. Compania specializata in comert coordoneaza si
    activitatea logistica, de la transport pana la silozuri si baze de
    receptie. Cea de a cincea firma a grupului este Vitifam, care are
    in proprietate 60 de hectare de vie si o crama, iar la primavara se
    pregateste de lansarea in retail a unei marci de vinuri denumita
    Viata Lunga.

    Pentru a avea profit, Poienaru a inteles ca are sansa sa castige
    din produsele cu valoare adaugata mai mult decat din materii prime
    vegetale. Agrofam a dezvoltat deci un sector zootehnic, format din
    doua ferme – una de ovine, care are 4.000 de capete si una de
    caprine, cu 2.000 de capete. Pentru ca nu putea vinde animalele in
    viu, conducerea companiei a adaugat un abator (adus pe trailer din
    Rovaniemi, de la Cercul Polar, pentru care a platit peste 1 milion
    de euro), o carmangerie si o mica fabrica de procesare a laptelui.
    Planurile de dezvoltare creionate de Poienaru prevad ca lactatele
    produse la Fetesti sa iasa pe piata tot in primavara, sub marca
    Ovidiu, atacand o nisa care nu este foarte bine exploatata in
    Romania – a produselor din lapte de capra.

  • What the ideal farm should look like

    Despite the bad news of 2009, Stefan Poienaru remains
    optimistic: he invested more in raw material and worked the land
    more efficiently than in previous years to offset the decline in
    turnover next year. “Those who did not have such a positive
    approach will go through two bad years in a row and prolong the
    ailment,” Poienaru says. “We must not skimp on technology – with
    proper technology you get good results; if the weather helps, too,
    you get outstanding results,” the businessman says.

    Stefan Poienaru, however, is one of the few farmers who can afford
    to make such calculations. Most of the arable land in the country
    is worked by small farmers and subsistence farming accounts for
    more than 90% of the farms. There are but a handful of people to
    have amassed a lot of farming land: Stefan Poienaru, Culita Tarata,
    Ioan Niculae, Adrian Porumboiu and Mihai Anghel own 200,000
    hectares of the cultivated area of the country, that is about
    2%.

    As far as Poienaru is concerned, he evaluates his business at 15-16
    million euros this year, compared with 26 million euros last year,
    with a 7% profitability (about 1.9 million euros). The year 2009
    came with a series of bad news: on the one hand, production stood
    at 35% of last year’s harvest, drought affected the crops, and the
    losses caused by disasters are put at some three million euros.
    Grain prices have not helped farmers, either, as they went down by
    about 20% compared with last year to 0.4 RON/kilogram, while the
    sunflower price fell 30% to 0.7 RON/kilogram. Actually, companies
    in this business said 2009 was the worst year for Romanian
    agriculture.

    Many are blaming the severe fragmentation of plots of land after
    1990. About 60-70% of the total farming land is fragmented into
    tiny bits “and there is no profitability (in it i.e.)” says Mihai
    Anghel, the owner of Cerealcom Dolj. He adds that the potential of
    the Romanian agriculture is to feed 80 million people. “I don’t
    want as much land as I have now. I for one do not believe in the
    future of big farms,” Stefan Poienaru says. The agriculture model
    he sees for Romania is that of a small plot of land, worked by a
    family, where owners know exactly what resources they used and reap
    the benefits of their work in full.