Radio România Internațional

Tag: irrigation

  • Severe drought in Europe

    Severe drought in Europe

    France is on high alert. Italy reports
    billions of euros in agricultural damage. The Netherlands, Germany, Poland,
    Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia face the difficulty of providing animal feed. In
    Spain, the volumes of water stored in reservoirs are currently over a third
    lower than the ten-year average.




    As for Portugal, water in reservoirs for
    hydroelectric plants is at half the seven-year average. Let’s not forget the
    fires affecting countries in southern Europe! And all these have a common cause
    – excessive heat and severe drought.




    Romania is no exception. Almost 243,000
    hectares in 30 counties, i.e. three quarters of the country, are affected by
    drought. The most recent data centralized by the Ministry of Agriculture and
    Rural Development show that the affected area is increasing compared to the end
    of last week, when 28 counties announced that approximately 230,000 hectares
    were affected by the lack of water.




    The crops of wheat and triticale, a hybrid
    of wheat and rye, suffered the most: the affected area rose to 133,000
    hectares. Next are the areas cultivated with barley, sorghum, oats and rye -
    20,000 hectares, rapeseed – 24,000 hectares and corn – 40,000. Farmers are
    desperate and say that losses will be huge. The Minister of Agriculture, Petre
    Daea, has promised them a guide of good practices, developed together with the
    Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the most valuable specialists in Romania,
    because, in his opinion, drought can be combated not only through irrigation,
    but also by using applied technologies and choosing the right varieties.




    Regarding irrigation, by 2027, Romania is
    supposed to have 2.6 million hectares of irrigable surface, for which 1.5
    billion euros have been provided from the national budget, minister Petre Daea
    has also stated. In a post on social media, he says that the implementation of
    the irrigation system rehabilitation program recently approved by the
    Government must be done day by day, without interruption.




    The official also called for
    responsibility: the destruction over the years cannot be overlooked. Forest
    vegetation that has occupied the entire section of irrigation canals, damaged
    canals or pressure stations in ruins are evidence of recklessness and lack of
    action. The rehabilitation works have started, but it is important to take care
    and preserve what we have, not destroy it, the Minister of Agriculture has
    stressed.




    In Romania, however, there are also numerous
    counterexamples, that is, well-managed works in the field that are reflected in
    the products obtained, the quality of which is in no way inferior to that of
    any other holding in the flagship countries of European agriculture.




    Mention should be made of the fact that
    wheat harvesting has been completed in Romania, the entire production is
    stored, and the quantity obtained will ensure the country’s consumption needs,
    with availability for export. (MI)

  • July 25, 2022 UPDATE

    July 25, 2022 UPDATE

    DROUGHT Drought has affected
    106,389 hectares of land in Romania, according to figures published by the
    agriculture ministry. The southern counties of Teleorman, Olt and Dolj have run
    out of water for irrigation because of the significant drop in the Danube’s
    river flow, agriculture minister Petre Daea announced on social media. Waters
    have retreated so much that they no longer reach the pumping stations feeding
    the irrigation system, with part of the Danube’s bed now looking like sandy
    beach. In the areas where irrigation was used, the state of the crops is good.
    Daea said the authorities are speeding up investment works to rehabilitate the
    national irrigation network and to bring Danube water closer to pumping
    stations. The minister recently said there is no reason yet to declare a state
    of disaster over the drought.

    TALKS
    The Romanian state secretary for strategic affairs, Iulian Fota, Monday had
    talks in Bucharest with the US deputy under-secretary for national security Kelli
    Ann Burriesci, who is on a regional tour in Europe. The US official was later
    received by the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu. Talks focused on Romania’s
    participation in the Visa Waiver Program
    and on means to strengthen bilateral cooperation to this end. Bogdan Aurescu reiterated
    that including Romania in the Visa Waiver
    program is a top political goal for Bucharest and a topic of particular
    interest to the Romanian public.     He also
    highlighted the importance of the successful implementation of a joint
    awareness raising campaign and voiced Romania’s willingness to work together
    with the US to help reduce the visa rejection rate.


    COVID-19 In Romania,
    the number of coronavirus infections is on the rise. Nearly 5,000 new cases
    were reported on Monday for the last 24 hours, most of these in Bucharest,
    Cluj, Ilfov, Constanta and Brasov counties. Around 3,400 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised,
    204 of them in intensive care. Most of the patients in critical condition are
    unvaccinated. Five COVID-related deaths have also been reported.


    CORRUPTION Lucian
    Duţă, the former chief of Romania’s National Health Insurance Agency (CNAS), Monday
    received a final 6-year prison sentence. He was charged by the National
    Anti-Corruption Directorate for receiving EUR 6.3 million in bribe in exchange
    for awarding a public service contract to 2 software companies. The Bucharest Court
    of Appeals upheld the ruling pronounced by the court of first instance in
    November 2020, and the court’s decision to seize the EUR 6.3 million from Lucian
    Duţă.


    ENERGY More than
    3,500 MW of renewable energy will be installed in Romania in the coming period,
    both solar, using photovoltaic panels, and wind-generated, according to data
    provided by a consultancy firm in the field. Almost 700 such projects have been
    submitted on the platform made available by the energy ministry to receive
    funding under the recovery and resilience plan. The secretary general of the
    employers’ association in the field of renewable energy Mihai Verşescu said
    investment is needed in this sector, but that business people are reluctant because
    of frequent legislative changes. He emphasised that while funding sources are
    available, legislation is needed to ensure predictability.


    EMPLOYMENT Five out
    of ten Romanian employees changed their jobs in the last two years, according
    to a poll published by an online recruitment platform. Many job applicants look
    for less stressful jobs and more benefits. Four out of ten people who change
    their jobs were driven by higher pay, 27% because they had lost their jobs a
    result of a wave of redundancies, and 3% because their employers did not agree
    to their working remotely. 35% of respondents said they are currently looking
    and applying for new jobs and only 21% are completely satisfied with their
    current jobs. In conclusion, Romanians seeking new employment want better pay,
    the possibility to work from home, more additional benefits besides their wages
    and the possibility to relocate abroad.


    TENNIS The Romanian
    tennis player Irina Begu won the WTA 250 tournament in Palermo, Italy, worth
    200,000 US dollars in prize money. In Sunday’s final, she defeated Italy’s
    Lucia Bronzetti in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. This is Begu’s fifth WTA title,
    having also won in Tashkent in 2012, Seoul in 2015, Florianopolis in 2016 and
    Bucharest in 2017. Begu also played the finals in Budapest, Marbella, Moscow
    and Cleveland. She is 31 years old and is ranked 45th in the world. Until now,
    Irina Spârlea had been the only Romanian player to win the singles title in
    Palermo, in 1994 and 1995. (CM, AMP)

  • Water supplies – a worrying situation

    Water supplies – a worrying situation

    In Romania, a country with few functional irrigation systems,
    agriculture is largely dependent on the weather. Pedological drought, which
    means a low reserve of water in the soil, is destroying hectares of crops again
    this year, bringing farmers to the brink of bankruptcy. The situation has been confirmed
    by the Director of the National Meteorological Administration, Elena Mateescu.
    In an interview for the Agerpres agency, she says that, this summer, Romania is
    going through a period in which the precipitation deficit is significant, and
    the situation is very unlikely to change, which will certainly make this
    agricultural year one of the driest in history.




    According to specialist estimates, the most affected crops are corn and
    sunflower, while Moldova (east) is the region most seriously affected by the
    extreme pedological drought, with the lowest amount of precipitation in
    history, 322.6 liters per square meter this year. In addition, several counties
    in the south have announced that there is no water left for irrigation because
    the level of the Danube has dropped significantly. The Ministry of Agriculture
    says that the area affected by pedological drought, where harvesting has been
    completed, has increased to approximately 70,000 hectares in 14 counties, and a
    damage assessment is underway.





    However, the Minister of Agriculture, Petre Daea, claims that at this moment there is no need to declare a state of calamity due to the drought. He also says that the projects developed and implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture have focused on three main objectives. Petre Daea:


    The first objective is to build the pumping stations, to equip them
    with modern, automatic equipment, which would consume less electricity. We then need to clean the drainage sections
    of the canals in such a way that the water goes smoothly to the pressurization
    stations. And the third objective is to waterproof the canals.




    Irrigation is not the only problem; providing water to the population has also become an
    issue. As a result of the severe drought lately, water has been rationalized in
    several localities in the south and east of Romania, and authorities are still
    looking for solutions to ensure the population’s consumption needs.




    And
    the weather doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. After a weekend with temperatures that reached 40 degrees Celsius, but
    also with storms and powerful winds that uprooted trees and destroyed roofs,
    Romania started a new hot week. Meteorologists say that most of the country will be under yellow
    and orange code warnings at least until Thursday.




    Maximum temperatures of up to 40 degrees are forecast again for Tuesday,
    especially in the western and southern regions. Against the background of this
    big heat wave, the Ministry of Health has published on its website several
    recommendation for the population. (MI)

  • Severe drought in Romania

    Severe drought in Romania

    In 2015, Romania was launching a programme to revamp its old irrigation system. It was an ambitious 5-year programme targeting a total surface area of around 2 million hectares by the end of 2020.



    However, at present only about 850,000 hectares are irrigable, and the programme was extended several years. In other words, only 10% of the countrys total farm area can be irrigated.



    Even so, farmers have only filed applications for around 100,000 hectares, says the line minister Adrian Oros. The situation is dramatic, because although Romania takes pride in its fertile land, its agriculture continues to rely heavily on the weather.



    And it has hardly rained at all in Romania over the past few months, there was little to no snow during the winter, and the consequences are increasingly evident.



    According to centralised data, in April we had 7 litres of precipitation per square metre, as opposed to an average of 53 litres.



    In short, Romania is facing a drought described by Minister Adrian Oros as “strong and extreme, as we havent seen in recent years.



    The worst situation in reported in Dobrogea, Bărăgan and Moldavia, that is in the south-east, south and east of the country. Here is how Nicolae Moraru, the mayor of a village in the east, describes the situation:



    Nicolae Moraru: “There are farmers in difficult positions, who own 400 – 500 hectares each and incur substantial expenses. They are threatened by bankruptcy. They have used their land, property, homes as collaterals. The situation is disastrous in our region.



    According to the Agriculture Ministry, 3 million hectares under crops since autumn are already destroyed. The rape, wheat, rye and barley crops are the most affected. Many farmers already warn that bread will be more expensive this autumn, although authorities argue that it is too soon to tell.



    In an interview to a private TV channel, minister Adrian Oros explained that even if half of the crops were destroyed, the domestic demand would still be covered:



    Adrian Oros: “It is much too soon. What happens in Europe and in the rest of the world is also important. During the good years, when it rained enough, Romanias wheat yield was 7, 8 or even 9 million tons of wheat, and we only use around 2 and a half to 3 million tons. The same for maize, the yield was 14-15 million tons, and the maximum demand in Romania is 7 million tons. So even if half the crops were destroyed, the domestic demand would still be covered.



    Weather experts bring us a piece of good news: on Friday they expect rain across the country. But the precipitation amount is not likely to be very large—an average of 10 litres per square metre.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

  • Measures to encourage Romanian agriculture

    Measures to encourage Romanian agriculture

    Even before the demise of communism, Romania had a wide irrigation network spreading 3.2 million hectares. At present most of it lies in ruin, many of the systems were stolen or left derelict. The high cost of irrigation water, the overall underfunding in agriculture as well as the lack of interest in certain cases have over the years led to a constant shrinking of irrigated farmland in Romania. Another contributing factor was climate change, affecting multiple economic sectors of which agriculture is the most vulnerable, considering activities in this sector are directly reliant on climate change.



    Authorities have been trying to reinvigorate the system. The line Minister Petre Daea said some 2 million hectares of farmland will benefit from irrigation by the end of the year. Overseeing the building of a new irrigation system in Iasi County, Minister Daea said he wanted to set up 30 new building sites for such systems all over the country, in addition to the 40 systems that are already in construction.



    Petre Daea: “We will have 70 building sites all over the country. We will be monitoring how construction works unfold for the irrigation systems. Climate change is a fact, not fiction. We need to set up the 2 million hectares and irrigate them by 2020 so as to ensure production is stable and farmers can use the water. Wherever we have the possibility to use this heaven-sent gift, the water, we have to use it so the production process can benefit both the country and farmers”.



    Minister Daea explained the irrigation systems are in a certain state of degradation and are not being used to their full potential. The Romanian official said rehabilitation works in the southern part of Iasi County should be over by April 15, and the systems in the northern part of the county will be rehabilitated starting in September. The Romanian state has a major contribution to the irrigation system, investing and carrying out works by means of the Land Improvement Agency. Investments currently account for 40% of the total budget allotted to the Agriculture Ministry, Minister Petre Daea pointed out.



    In another development, the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture initiated, on March 1, a call for subsidy requests for 2019. Farmers can file for a single subsidy request with county or local branches of the Agency and the Bucharest Office by May 15, even if they are administering farmlands in different towns and villages and other counties. All applications must be submitted to the Agency county branches when applicant-farmers are administering a surface larger than 50 hectares and to local centers when the surface is smaller or equal to 50 hectares of farmland.

  • August 25, 2015 UPDATE

    August 25, 2015 UPDATE

    The Agriculture Ministry has earmarked 145 million euros for 2016 for the start of rehabilitation works on the main irrigation infrastructure, but a political agreement is needed so that the same amount may be allotted for seven running years, the Romanian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development announced on Tuesday. Daniel Constantin presented the Agriculture Committee in the Chamber of Deputies with a report on the damages caused by the drought this year. The farmers, who say losses amount to 2 billion euros, asked for the support of the Government. According to surveys conducted by the World Bank, the revamping of the main irrigation infrastructure in Romania requires around one billion euros.



    The worlds stock markets on Tuesday surged back in spite of continuing fears of a Chinese economic slowdown, after Chinas central bank announced a cut in interest rates. The market in Shanghai on Monday shrank by 8.5%, the biggest drop in the past 8 years, despite of the authorities attempts to re-launch exports and economic operations and thus dispel investors concerns. Meanwhile on Monday the euro hit its record high value this year, exceeding the 1.17 threshold against the US dollar. The price for oil also dropped below the 40-dollar mark for the first time in the last six and a half years.

  • L’agriculture roumaine face à la sécheresse prolongée

    L’agriculture roumaine face à la sécheresse prolongée

    Les précipitations insuffisantes et l’été caniculaire sont à l’origine d’une grave crise de l’agriculture roumaine. En raison de la sécheresse, plus d’un quart des cultures agricoles ont périclité, avertissent les représentants des fermiers, les plus touchées étant le maïs, le tournesol et le soja. La sécheresse sévit notamment en Moldavie, (dans l’est), mais elle n’épargne pas non plus une bonne partie de la Dobroudja (sud-est), du Banat (sud-ouest) ou de la Crişana (nord-ouest).



    Le président de la Ligue des associations de producteurs agricoles de Roumanie, Laurenţiu Baciu, s’attend à des productions agricoles de 25 à 30% inférieures à celles de l’année dernière et estime que le manque à gagner se montera à près de 2 milliards d’euros. Précisant que, dans ces conditions, les fermiers se retrouveront dans l’impossibilité de préparer la nouvelle année agricole, il déplore aussi le manque de disponibilité des banquiers pour octroyer des crédits au secteur agricole et l’absence des responsables du domaine, pour cause de vacances. Pour l’instant, les autorités promettent des aides aux petites exploitations. Quant aux grandes, ce serait au ministère de l’Agriculture de concevoir des schémas de financement plus amples qui nécessitent l’aval de l’UE.



    Laurenţiu Baciu dénonce en outre la lenteur des procédures d’appui, l’impossibilité des agriculteurs de s’assurer contre les risques climatiques, tels la sécheresse ou le gel, ou encore le fait que les aides financières dont ils bénéficient en cas de calamités agricoles leur parviennent avec un grand retard.



    La fin de ce calvaire ce n’est pas pour bientôt, paraît-il. Pour les jours à venir, les prévisionnistes annoncent un temps caniculaire sur la plupart du territoire et quelques faibles ondées localement. Ceci étant, le déficit en eau du sol se maintiendra dans l’est, le sud-est, le sud et l’ouest du pays. Sur cette toile de fond, le débat public sur le pillage du système d’irrigation hérité du régime communiste refait surface.



    La réhabilitation de l’infrastructure d’irrigation à l’échelle nationale, supposerait un effort financier de près d’un milliard d’euros. Selon le ministre de l’Agriculture, Daniel Constantin, ces travaux pourraient être financés par des fonds européens, dans le cadre du “plan Juncker”. Ce projet d’investissements publics, baptisé d’après le nom du chef de l’Exécutif communautaire, devrait injecter plus de 300 milliards d’euros dans les économies des pays membres de l’Union. L’officiel roumain envisage aussi un accord politique au sein du Parlement de Bucarest au sujet d’une loi réglementant la réhabilitation du système d’irrigation dans les cinq prochaines années.



    Malheureusement, les eaux du Danube, soit la principale source pour les irrigations, frôlent leur plus bas niveau historique. Au point d’entrée dans le pays, à Baziaş, le débit du Danube représente la moitié de la moyenne pluriannuelle de la période, tandis qu’à la hauteur de Galaţi, plus grande ville-port danubienne de Roumanie, plusieurs îlots de sable sont apparus au milieu du lit du fleuve. De l’avis des spécialistes, le niveau des eaux du Danube continuera de baisser dans les jours à venir. (trad. Mariana Tudose)