In the Brčko District, the condition of the crops is very bad due to the large amount of precipitation, and the continuation of spring sowing is not possible even in 15 days due to unfavorable weather conditions – says the president of the Association of Sava Brezovo Polje Selo farmers, Drago Novaković.
On the other hand, as he emphasized, the bigger problem is the disease of wheat and winter crops.
“Last night, ice also hit a part of Krbet, Ražljev and Brezovo Polje, which further damaged agricultural crops,” said Novaković, stating that vegetable growers also have problems because precipitation and low temperatures call this production into question.
He expressed hope that corn crops would recover after the water receded, unless the floodwaters washed away the seed bed.
“The weather conditions are currently not favorable to agricultural producers, and this will pose a special problem, especially on those lands where spring sowing has not yet been done, and where water is retained in the surface layer,” said Novaković.
He emphasized that precisely because of this, the deadline for sowing will be significantly postponed.
“Farmers are already familiar with the fact that they should start sowing earlier hybrids in order to avoid possible additional losses compared to those that would be in the normal sowing terms,” Novaković pointed out.
Farmers also know that as soon as they have the opportunity, they can go with chemical treatment, to protect the crops and to monitor the situation in the field. The problem will be, as he said, also with weeds, considering that the producers mostly did not have time to carry out treatments against weeds.
Novaković says that it is currently not possible to assess the damage, especially on wheat, which is in the flowering and leafing phase, but also on corn. However, he claims that no plot in the District will remain unsown because farmers, regardless of the very expensive sowing and the damage they will suffer, will make extra efforts to cultivate each plot.
