Excellent: The Czech Republic will request extraordinary aid from the EU for Czech fruit growers | News

“This morning I had a private meeting with (European Commissioner for Agriculture) Janusz Wojciechowski,” the minister said. “The Czech Republic will develop background material so that we can negotiate extraordinary aid for Czech fruit growers at the level of the European Union,” he added.

According to Výborný, this year’s spring frosts caused that there will be no fruit harvest in Bohemia. The financial damages for the businessmen in question in the Czech Republic amounted to one billion crowns, and for wine growers across the Czech Republic to two billion. “These are not minor spring frosts, where the damage would be around ten to 20 percent,” noted Výborný.

According to the growers, it was not possible to protect the crop even with fire and smoke before this year’s exceptionally strong frosts. Even large companies, which are trying to protect their business through diversification, suffered unprecedented damage. “(Big companies) have part of their orchards in the lowlands 150 meters above sea level, part of them in Jičínsk and elsewhere, where the altitude is several hundred meters higher. And it still didn’t help… simply at the moment when the frost comes, which it’s 6 to 7 degrees and unfortunately it lasts all night, so unfortunately you usually won’t save anything there,” Výborný told Czech Radio last week.

The ministry has already announced that it will launch an aid program in the amount of 70 to 100 million crowns. It is not yet clear how big the eventual financial aid from EU funds could be.

Neighboring countries also reported damage, for example in Germany, Saxony and Brandenburg were mainly affected. Farmers in Saxony, according to public television MDR, are talking about the complete destruction of the harvest of stone fruits, such as plums and cherries. In Slovakia, according to the estimates of the local fruit union, the damage concerns roughly 30 percent of the crop.