Some Aspects Regarding Potato Culture in Romania

Potato production has a long tradition in Romanian agriculture. Currently, Romania is an important European producer of fresh product, but also a processor for chips and starch. However, the overall production is constantly dropping: over the last ten years the acreage of potato crop decreased from around 283,089 ha to 144428 ha. Romania remains among the world's top 20 potato producers. During 2010-2016, the average of the annual potatoes production was approx. 3145864 tones from an average acreage of 216704 ha [6], with an average yield of 3145864 t/ha. Plant health is very important for plant production, forests, natural and planted areas, natural ecosystems, ecosystem services and biodiversity in the Union. Plant health is threatened by species injurious to plants and plant products which now present a greater risk of being introduced into the Union territory owing to globalization of trade and climate change. In order to fight that threat, it is necessary to adopt measures concerning the determination of the phytosanitary risks posed by those pests and the reduction of those risks to an acceptable level. [14]. Potato culture is susceptible to being infected by many quarantine organisms in Romania / Union and is therefore subject to intense phytosanitary monitoring [13]. The monitoring contributed to know the status of the harmful organisms in Romania as well as to the distribution of the organisms [13].