APIA: 98.61 per cent of farmers received subsidies of over two billion Euro

In late June, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos requested to Achim Irimescu, Minister of Agriculture and Rural development, to prepare an action plan to combat the effects of drought forecasted this year in Romania and Irimescu asked for 30 million RON (around 6.7 million Euro) supplementary budget for the reconstruction of the irrigation system, according to Mediafax

2016-10-21 21:49:30 - From the Print Edition

"We have a big problem with climate change; this year has been very good, but, according to weather forecast, a period of drought might follow," said Irimescu, quoted by the newswire. "In this regard, the Prime Minister gave me a very clear task, to see what we can do in order to put the irrigation system in operation. We prefer to offer support in advance for irrigation than pay compensations for losses due to drought. I hope that our forecasters are mistaken, because in the winter they said that we are going to have a fierce drought in May and June, which has not happened, but we must prevent any situation that impacts agriculture." He also added that the measures the authorities have at hand include the filling of irrigation channels and an electricity subsidy. Preliminary calculations indicate about 30 million RON, money which authorities must ensure but which is not in the budget at the moment. Irimescu added that he hopes to find a solution to solve the problem.