Latvia is close to declaring an emergency situation in farming, Minister of Agriculture Didzis Šmits (Combined List) said in an interview with Latvijas Radio.
“Unfortunately, we are not far [from declaring a state of emergency in agriculture],” said the Minister, adding that on Wednesday, the 14th of June, a meeting of the Crisis Management Council was also held on the steps to be taken, but it was not decided to declare a state of emergency yet.
He explained that
before declaring a state of emergency in agriculture, it is necessary to understand whether it will help.
“You have to see what it brings and what it doesn’t. So we can avoid the crying about the wolf in the sheep. Avoid that at the first indication that things are bad, we declare an emergency without understanding what it will do,” said Šmits.
Also, the minister noted that the situation in agriculture as a whole, due to a number of reasons, this year is such that it has not been for many years.
He also mentioned that, for example,
a rough autumn is expected in grain harvest this year.
Also, Šmits pointed out that Polish farmers are currently intensively buying hay in Latvia. “One of the steps could be to limit this sale in some way, because we ourselves may run out of animal food at one point, but we are not that far yet, because the situation is not yet so critical,” noted the minister.
Three municipalities in the western regions of Lithuania have already declared a state of emergency due to drought, and the municipalities expect the government to compensate local farmers for the losses. A state of emergency has been declared in the districts of Šilute, Kretinga and Klaipėda.
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