Agriculture Minister in podcast: ‘If environment changes, farmers must, too’

Discussing with former president Janos Ader this summer’s drought in Hungary, Nagy said on the latest episode of Ader’s Blue Planet environmental podcast that it had not been as extreme as the “historic” one that hit 1.2 million hectares of land in 2022.

“Farmers reported damage across an area of 390,000 hectares this year, including 160,000 hectares in the central-southern Great Plain,” said Nagy. He highlighted the importance of the development of the irrigation system and water storage facilities. He indicated the possibility of dedicating eight temporary reservoirs as permanent storage facilities with a potential capacity to store up to 5 million cubic metres of water.

The minister said that since Brussels had rejected Hungary’s bid for support for an irrigation development programme, citing the protection of drinking water bases, it would be carried out using domestic funds.

He said a drought had hit 40 percent of Europe so seriously that it had caused problems in countries that boast more advanced, cutting-edge technologies.