He added the government decision enabling the staff cut will be adopted next week.
"We’ve finished getting all approvals for the government decision. (…) The decision will be discussed in the Cabinet meeting next week and the ministry’s staff will be cut to half,” Sarbu said.
The minister said most of the employees to be laid off will most likely get jobs within agencies managing European money for agriculture, as they are highly qualified for such jobs.
Sarbu said the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA) alone needs to hire about 2,000 employees and the agency for rural development will also up its staff numbers.