ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - According to first estimates, damage caused by this spring's drought totals some 1.4 billion kuna and 10 counties have been declared disaster areas so far due to the effects of this natural disaster, Croatian
Agriculture Minister Bozidar Pankretic said at a news conference on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - According to first estimates, damage caused
by this spring's drought totals some 1.4 billion kuna and 10
counties have been declared disaster areas so far due to the effects
of this natural disaster, Croatian Agriculture Minister Bozidar
Pankretic said at a news conference on Tuesday. #L#
According to preliminary figures, producers of wheat, sugar beet,
barley, turnip, rye, potato, oat and fodder crop will suffer damage
of some 937.5 million kuna, while damage caused to soy, sunflower
and maize crops amounts to some 533.7 million kuna.
According to Pankretic, the ministry will propose to the government
11 types of measures to ameliorate the effects of the drought.
Some of those measures refer to the exemption of farmers from the
obligation to hand over the minimum yield and pay compensation for
the use of state-owned land. In addition, beneficiaries of loans
from the Development Fund should be given longer grace periods.
The agriculture ministry will ask the finance ministry to ensure 30
percent of the amount of the real damage, and has proposed the
urgent solution of the problem of use of petrol which is used by
farmers and fishermen.
The government is to consider the draft measures on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Premier Ivica Racan will tour eastern Croatia to get a
better insight in the scope of the effects of the drought in
agriculture.
Asked by reporters whether it would be cheaper for the country to
build a system of irrigation and thus solve problems of droughts in
the long term, Pankretic said this would not alleviate the
consequences given that farmers held many divided plots instead of
larger units and the watering therefore would not pay.
(1EUR = 7.55 kuna)
(hina) ms