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- Michigan Group helps
Romanian Growers Live off their Land
- By Karen Gentry
Managing Editor
- While under Communism, some farmers in Romania lost their land and were given just the basics to live on.
With the fall of Communism after four decades, based on ownership records, farmers are getting their land back and starting from scratch. In some instances they are learning how to produce crops off of the land again.
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Romanian growers rely on hand labor for agricultural chores.
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- John Zandstra, a greenhouse and vegetable grower from Hudsonville in West Michigan and others in an interdenominational church group are working with Romania farmers to help them take baby steps on the road to a better future.
Today the roads in Romanian communities are unpaved, muddy and pocked with holes. Most people have no electricity or running water and subsist on one cow, one pig and a small garden. There’s no tractors, only oxen to work the fields.
Last October, Zandstra went to Mezoseg in northwest Romania as part of the Transylvania Reformed Assistance Committee (TRAC). The Mezoseg or field area is a district between Cluj and Marosvasarhely, which was once a prosperous farm area amid picturesque Transylvanian hills. This interdenominational group has provided economic, medical, educational and spiritual assistance to villagers in Romania since the fall of communism in 1989. TRAC’s goal is to help bring life back to the Reformed churches by helping growers and villagers.
Zandstra, a member of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church, traveled to Romania with a doctor and a former pastor from West Michigan last year.
In a country with terrain similar to the rolling farmland in Pennsylvania and a climate similar to Michigan, Zandstra knows first hand the possibilities for Romania.
The group is currently working with farmers on specific projects. One farmer is in the hog business, one grows vegetables and another is in cattle. For the vegetable grower, TRAC plans to put up a greenhouse and for the cattle farmer a cattle barn.
He said Romanian growers might own five hectares (12.5 acres) but the land was split in parcels. Part of their land might be over four miles from their other land, Zandstra said.
As growers only own small pieces of land in Romania, TRAC is trying to buy up land to help growers acquire more acreage.
Finding good seeds to plant is a problem for Romanian growers, according to Zandstra and since 9/11 it’s been almost impossible to get seed out of the United States. TRAC works with seed companies in Germany and Holland to secure seed for Romanian growers.
“They (Romanian growers) still have same plants we were using 10-15 years ago,” said Zandstra. He said growers in Romania can grow many of the vegetables grown in Michigan including sweet corn and cabbage. He noted that Romanians also have a lot of plum trees and produce a drink called polenka, similar to a high proof brandy. The drink is considered a delicacy in Romania.
Most Romanians, heat with wood or dried up corn stalks, although “natural gas bubbles out of the ground” in Romania, Zandstra said. The pipes for natural gas have been there for 30 years and are just starting to be used. For the first time a grower will soon be able to have heat in his greenhouse.
Zandstra views farmers’ markets as the wave of the future for growers. He said one city in Romania includes 11 farmers’ markets. He believes a young couple with land could make the equivalent of $90 a day growing and selling their produce. Currently lack of transportation and a poor infrastructure pose barriers to growers.
Budding capitalists in Romania face interest rates of 50-60% when they go to banks for loans, according to Zandstra. In one example, TRAC is building a barn for a farmer for the equivalent of $3,000 American dollars. Through the TRAC program the farmer will not have to make a payment the first year and in the next nine years they will pay $300 back to the TRAC program that will be used to help other farmers. As one of the requirements to the TRAC program, growers must tithe $30 a year to the local church.
Change comes slowly to Romania, a country slated to become part of the Euro system in 2007. Zandstra said many people left in power are holdovers from the Communist regime and it will take awhile to change ways of thinking. He noted that average wages are $300-$600 per year and one young man, age 22, works 40 hours a week and hopes to make $90 a month.
“The younger growers are now starting to see hope,” said Zandstra.
While under communism young people were sent to work in communes and factories, decimating the farms into pieces. “There’s lots of poverty and despair,” said Zandstra. He said most people haven’t seen a priest or a doctor in 30-40 years.
On a dirt road Zandstra said it took his group two hours to go 45 miles. The last 10 miles were worse than a choppy boat ride on Lake Michigan, he said.
TRAC is seeking donations for a four-wheel drive vehicle for a doctor who visits 100 patients per day in outlying areas. They’ve raised $13,000 thus far out of $20,000 needed. Besides buying land and raising funds to be used as loans, TRAC also uses donations to buy additional supplements for animals, for plants, seeds and fertilizer for vegetable growers, for a vehicle to transport goods to market and for the development of a truck route. Donations can be made by check made out to TRAC and mailed to 5883 64th Ave., Hudsonville, MI 49426. For more information call Zandstra at (616) 875-7736.
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