Two million hectares affected so far by drought in Romania
Romanian Minister of Agriculture Florin Barbu has recently stated that about two million hectares of agricultural crops have been affected by the drought phenomenon. Mostly affected are spring crops.
"At the moment, from the assessment we made at the Ministry of Agriculture based on the information received from the specialized directorates across the country, there are about two million hectares affected […]. The Prime Minister has publicly announced that the compensation payment will be of at least 200 euros per hectare. All commissions and public institutions under the Ministry of Agriculture are obliged to draw up these drought reports by September 15. […]. This year we will pay the compensations in October, because farmers’ activity is becoming harder and harder, as in the last three years we had drought, and we want to secure these financial resources for them to be able to start the fall sowing campaign," said the agriculture minister.
When asked whether Romania will be able to meet its cereal demand in the context of this year's drought, the minister gave assurances that the country will have the necessary quantity of cereals, given that 1.6 million hectares of crops are being irrigated. "From the point of view of food security, Romania has the necessary cereals both for its own consumption, including for the consumption of the livestock sector, and for export," said Florin Barbu.
As far as the autumn crops are concerned, the affected areas are not very large, around 100,000 hectares of damaged crops being reported.