Farmers believe that the Minister of Agriculture’s irrigation strategy is too late

Farmers presently feel that any measure taken by Minister of Agriculture Ilie Sarbu to combat the effects of a drought is too late, at least for wheat and barley, although losses might be limited in terms of other crops, such as corn. Sarbu is due to present an emergency strategy to the government on Wednesday, which includes the expansion of irrigation systems, due to the expected drought.
“For stalky grains these measures are already too late, as these have begun to dry up, and something can only still be done for corn,” said Marcel Cucu, President of the League of' Associations of Romanian Agricultural Producers (LAPAR). He added that the drought has severely affected the barley and wheat crops, with production forecast for the latter at 2.5 million tons, about half of that obtained in a normal year. In some parts of the country, especially in southeastern Romania, there are areas where the losses will amount to 70 percent of production, due to a lack of irrigation of fields.

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