IMPORTANCE OF ECONOMIC KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER FOR SUPPORTING OF TOTAL ABSORTION GRANTS BY SEMI SUBSISTENCE FARMS

In Romania semi-subsistence agriculture prevails and is rich in rural human resources, in terms of numbers, but still poor in terms of their quality and professionalism. Therefore, increasing the competitiveness of semisubsistence farms may be achieved also through the educational enhancement (technological, economic and managerial) of the small farmers. Measure 141 "Supporting semi ? subsistence farms" aims to increase the production volume for marketing and diversification of the production according to market requirements and, as well, to introduce new products, in the endeavors for semi-subsistence farms to become economically viable. This research study is based on a brief analysis of the official data on the progress of Measure 141, as well as on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of a sample of over 1,000 farmers involved in semi-subsistence farming, who are carrying out projects under this measure and have attended lectures on information and professional training in economics. The sample was stratified by various socio-professional criteria and selected by statistical step, representing 30% of the studied population segment. All these criteria were correlated and analyzed according to the minimum initial knowledge of farmers at the beginning of the course, in the single-entry bookkeeping, after a period of at least two years after implementation. Due to the highly heterogeneous level of education, in many cases non-agricultural and without economic knowledge, small authorized farmers were forced by the newly created circumstances to adapt and cope on-going, more or less correctly and thoroughly, to the new accounting, tax and management requirements. For many farmers, information and professional training, especially in the single-entry bookkeeping, were provided often too late, in the third year of the project, so they it marked the proper use of the financial support and the quality of the farm management and marketing of agricultural products. From data and information analysis it resulted that a large part of farmers who accessed Measure 141 failed to meet intermediate verification of project implementation, especially in the absence of part or all of the simple-entry bookkeeping needed for transposing the business plans for the first three years and lead to the early finalizing of the financing projects.