STUDY ON FIELD CROPS CURRENT STATUS IN BALKAN COUNTRIES

Balkan Peninsula is a geographic area with specific natural features and historic, social, political and economic evolutions. Analyzed territory has an area of 76,601 thou hectares and a population of 65,578 people and includes 10 countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, FYROM - Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia). Agricultural potential of the region is illustrated by 38,435 thou ha agricultural land and 21,022 thou ha arable land. Range of field crops consists of cereals (55% of arable land, mainly wheat and barley), oil crops (sunflower, rape, soybean, olive) potato, sugar beet, tobacco, cotton. In the Balkan context, Romania is characterized by an important agricultural potential, expressed by agricultural and arable land (35.15% and respectively 41.80% of all Balkan) and is the leading agricultural producer, dominating especially in cereals (35.9% of the Balkans), oilseeds (44.5% of total) and potato (55.2%). It is estimated that Romania's agricultural potential can be better exploited, such as Romania to contribute more to cover the consumption of agricultural products for the entire Balkan region.