The state must create a better insurance system so that farmers can enter risky ventures with more awareness, he told reporters after visiting the Puskaric family farm near Garesnica in east Croatia.
Milanovic said there were no stereotypes in such situations and that the drought would endanger family farms with smaller arable land or fewer head of cattle.
But, he added, there are those who did well and invested in irrigation, with or without assistance, generating good results. "Who invested more and looked to the future managed to become an independent producer, which is the future of Croatia's agriculture. We should draw conclusions from that as we join the European Union, which helps, but we must mainly help ourselves," he said, calling for clear awareness of what one wanted.
"Some people are left to chance in this situation and have no insurance. Insurance companies won't insure drought-damaged crops and the state has set up no system, so we will seriously have to work on the irrigation system," said Milanovic.
"This year we set aside about 10 per cent more in the budget for the irrigation system, more than last year. Looking at the budget structure, that's a big growth but the funds are insignificant, HRK 100 million, which is low. At this pace, we won't achieve the goal of about 100,000 irrigated hectares by 2020," he said, adding that 18,000 hectares are irrigated now.
Milanovic said the money to cover the damage was insignificant. No one will literally go bust and be hungry, but a smaller number of people will be in serious trouble, he added.
Agriculture has relied on stop-gap measures, there has been no order and it's our job to restore order so that people can have legitimate expectations, so that if they enter something, they know they won't earn a lot perhaps, but they won't risk losing everything because the government hasn't done its job either, said the PM.
The Puskaric family farm covers 270 hectares of land, of which 90 is for potato and the rest for soy, maize and wheat crops. Part of the land is without irrigation and the drought has caused total damage.
Earlier today, Milanovic and Agriculture Minister Tomislav Jakovina visited three drought-struck counties - Vukovar-Srijem, Brod-Posavina and Bjelovar-Bilogora - whose leaders informed them about the extent of the damage.