Farmers Plead for Drought Relief
July 22, 2003
The head of Germany's farming industry association has called the current heat wave ravaging Europe the "drought of the century." Farmers all across the continent are turning to governments to help them deal with a climate crisis that is threatening or has destroyed valuable crops.
Gerd Sonnleitner of the German Farmer's Association met with German Agriculture Minister Renate Kunäst on Monday night to discuss possibilities for emergency aid to the stricken industry. At a press conference held after the meeting, Sonnleitner said Künast pledged to explore the options in her ministry and at the broader European Union level.
"The federal government won't be able to avoid such problems, if it takes on great dimensions, well beyond the states," Kunäst said on Tuesday in an interview with public broadcaster ZDF. In Germany, state governments and not the federal government are responsible for local agricultural policy and emergencies.
Worse than the floods
The German Farmers Association estimated that losses in the worst-affected areas of the country -- in the east and the south -- amounted to up to 80 percent of the total harvest. The grain harvest alone could suffer losses of up to €1 billion ($1.1 billion). Sonnleitner (photo) said the damage done by the drought is higher than the effects of the devastating floods that ravaged parts of southern Germany last summer and cost billions of euros. Around 3.5 million hectares (8.6 million acres) of crops have been affected.
Germany is not alone. Along with France, Italy and Austria, it plans to appeal for help at the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported. Portugal and Spain are expected to join the four in trying to convince the EU to issue direct subsidies to farmers -- which are normally paid in winter -- in advance, a member of the European Council reportedly told the Berlin paper.
The countries' representatives are also expected to ask the council to allow EU member states to distribute emergency agricultural funds to the hard-hit industry. National governments may only lend a financial helping hand if production falls by more than 30 percent. They may also attempt to have the drought declared a "natural disaster" to gain access to EU emergency funds. The European Farmers association COPA-COCEGA called for EU assistance for afflicted farmers on Friday.
Occupational hazards
The chairman of the EU Agriculture Council, Friedrich Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, said the situation should not be exaggerated. "There are some regions where too little rain has fallen," he told InfoRadio Berlin-Brandenburg on Tuesday. That's part of the "occupational hazards" of being a farmer. "There are dry or wet years," he added.
Meanwhile consumers can expect the drought to affect their wallets. The price of cauliflower, lettuce, potatoes and peaches has already gone up the Central Market and Price Reporting Agency (ZMP) announced.