Drought in Romania affects 34,647 farmers, 1.168 million hectares

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Adrian Oros announced on Thursday that 34,647 farmers, who own 1.168 million hectares of crops established last autumn, have reported losses due to extreme drought, and compensations will be paid to agricultural producers in early September.

"A synthesis of the reports drawn up by those who worked in the emergency management boards has been completed and today we have official figures. A number of 34,647 farmers have been affected, and the affected area is 1,168,000 hectares under crops established in autumn. A draft emergency ordinance for the establishment of this aid scheme has been finalised at the ministry level and has been pre-notified to the European Commission. The provisions of the EU guidelines on state aid in the agricultural and forestry sector and in rural areas have been taken into account and we expect them to be included in the budget revision so that we may make payments in early September," said Oros at a news conference.

According to him, the amount of payments per hectare established for wheat is 925 lei, for rye 925 lei, triticale - 805 lei, barley - 912 lei, two-row barley - 951 lei, oats - 772 lei and rapeseed - 1,002 lei. Oros said that more than 70% of the area affected by drought was cultivated under wheat, and applications will may be submitted to APIA from August 14.

"Requests to APIA centres are submitted from August 14, and payments will be made via APIA because they have a very good database, they are the most objective (...)," said Oros.

The total amount allocated from the national budget for the payment of compensations is 1.15 billion lei.

According to the agrometeorological forecast issued by the National Weather Administration (ANM) for July 3-9 for the non-irrigated maize crop, the water supply on the soil 0-100 cm deep will be within satisfactory limits, close to optimal and optimal in Maramures, Transylvania, Crisana and Oltenia, most of Muntenia, Banat and Moldavia, and on smaller areas in central and southwestern Dobrogea.

There will be soil moisture deficits (moderate, strong and extreme pedological drought) on large agricultural areas in Dobrogea, locally in the east and northeast of Muntenia, as well as on smaller areas in southeastern Moldavia and northwestern Banat.