In Osijek-Baranja County, damage on said crops ranges from 30 to 90 per cent and the initial estimate is about HRK 514 million, prefect Vladimir Sisljagic has said, adding that if one adds the damage done by frost and low temperatures earlier in the year, the total damage exceeds HRK 700 million.
In Brod-Posavina County, drought has caused enormous damage to 16,000 hectares of maize fields, 4,500 hectares of soy fields and 5,000 hectares of grazing land, according to deputy prefect Davor Vlaovic.
Vukovar-Srijem County prefect Bozo Galic said the government would have to find a way to pay for the damage, which he said was "a real disaster."
The president of the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture, Mate Brlosic, said such a disastrous drought was unprecedented and that it was difficult to estimate the total consequences. He said food production was becoming increasingly questionable, that livestock "are slowly but surely disappearing" and that there would be no food for them.
Brlosic said there would be no maize crops this year at all.
The heads of the three Slavonia counties, where most food is produced, stressed that without irrigation, one could not think of any production.
The counties are preparing irrigation projects and the three leaders said the government would have to set aside funds for irrigation.
Weatherman Zeljko Lazanin has said the eastern city of Osijek reported on August 6 the highest temperature ever recorded there - 40.6 degrees Celsius - three degrees higher than the July average, adding that "the disastrous drought consequences are a warning that we must adapt to the new climate conditions."
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.5)