Tropical temperatures, accompanied by a lack of rainfall, take their toll. Due to tropical temperatures, it is increasingly difficult to maintain production. The drought hit the agricultural production sector the most, corn and soybeans. More than half of the arable land in Semberija is under corn, but due to the drought in some plots, the yield will be reduced by 80%.
26,000 hectares were sown with corn in Semberija. Nevertheless, the yield, farmers say, will be decimated. Even the announced precipitation will not improve the situation because the damage is already noticeable, and estimates are that it amounts to eighty percent.
“The damages are enormous. The one who was able to irrigate it and that is difficult, it has to be followed from the very sowing to the end. People spread the drip-by-drip systems across the plots, but even that requires large costs and it is impossible to irrigate large quantities”, says Bosko Radic, president of the Association of Agricultural Producers of the village of Semberija.
Where watering is not possible, farmers will not harvest even 30 percent of the planned crop. The price is unknown, but they do not hope, they say, that they will do better there. The production is unprofitable, and the crop will have to be kept to feed the heads on the farms.
“I don’t think I will even sell because then I won’t have livestock. And I don’t have anyone to sell the cattle to, and it goes on like that from day to day,” says agricultural producer Milisav Trifkovic.
“The price of fertilizer is over 200 BAM, and the price, for example, of milk is very low. Whether it will have to be corrected with incentives per hectare, per liter – I don’t know, but something must be done to keep people in that production. Otherwise, it is not written well for anyone, neither the producer nor the consumer”, says Radic.
Due to the drought, farmers say, this year’s corn harvest could start even earlier. They also claim that if the dry period is extended, the consequences can be catastrophic.
