Romania’s Vegetables Production in the Context of Globalization and Food Security

Food safety was and remains a permanent concern of all the states, together with food safety, being an important aspect of population living conditions. Globalization brings the advantage of trading goods with better conditions, including a higher variety of non-food and food, vegetables too. In this context, we need to understand our local current situation and to raise the question if local producers achieved their optimal production level or still they have to improve current status for delivering better quality and quantity of vegetables. Romania has a great potential for agriculture, taking into account a balanced relief distribution (33% plains, 37% hills, 30% mountains), the share of cultivated surface from total surface (13.9%), soil and climate, conditions predispose to very good production of many types of crops. Herewith, we aim to evaluate current economic potential of Romania for fresh vegetables production in relation with local consumption needs and agri-food sources. We consider important to assess the import and export balance of Romania for vegetables and to detect new economic opportunities from agribusiness point of view.