Commercial presentation Update: 2/05/2024 15:09
Issued by: 2/05/2024, 12:54 p.m
Prague – This year, instead of 138,000 tons of fruit, about 30,300 tons of fruit will be harvested in the Czech Republic due to severe frosts. Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborný (KDU-ČSL) said this at a press conference in Prague today after a meeting with representatives of fruit growers, winegrowers and forest nurseries. According to him, the Ministry of Agriculture (MZe) is ready to activate a program for solving risks and crises in agriculture for all growers whose production was damaged by the frost. He will present the material to the government on Tuesday. At the same time, according to Výborný, the priority will be fruit growers, for whom the minister wants to focus on those growers where the damage exceeds 50 percent. The worst fruit harvest since the 1990s was in 2011, when it amounted to 101,249 tons. The Agrarian Chamber also wants money for vegetable and potato growers because of the frost.
According to Výborný, the program for solving risks and crises in agriculture has been activated three times so far, namely in 2017, 2019 and 2021. It is not yet clear how much money the growers will share from it. The ambition of Výborné is for it to be at least 70 to 100 million crowns, he said. The MZe is also seeking support from the European Union. He is currently preparing an application for it, Výborný added.
According to Výborný, the amount of support that growers will receive will also depend on whether they were insured against frost. “The program, as it is notified, assumes that entities that did not have commercial insurance against frost will be reduced to 50 percent of the rate as part of the implementation,” said Výborný. “If someone has taken out insurance, it’s not something that should have a negative impact on state support. But on the contrary, those who have taken this step responsibly will be partially favored,” added the minister. According to him, fruit, with the exception of vines, can currently be insured in the Czech Republic for apples, pears, strawberries and blueberries. For growers damaged by the frost, the Ministry of Agriculture is also considering supporting operational loans through the Agricultural and Forestry Support and Guarantee Fund, Výborný said.
After the meeting, the Chairman of the Fruit Union of the Czech Republic, Martin Ludvík, told ČTK and Czech Radio that he sees a shift in the negotiations with Výborny on helping the sector. On the other hand, where improvement has not occurred, according to him, is the possible support of employment in companies that focus on storing, sorting and packing fruit for retail chains. “What we are really talking about here is the support of kurzarbeit-type employment, as was the case during covid, so that the employees in these few enterprises important for the supply of trade chains with Czech fruit can be maintained,” he said after the meeting between ČTK and Czech Radio.
Výborný discussed the kurzarbeit program, which was supposed to prevent layoffs due to covid, with Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL). “The program is notified, but for the effects of high energy prices, not for frost,” said Výborný.
According to Ludvík, fruit growers do not yet have definitive data on the damage caused. “We cannot update Moravia at the moment because it has been partially damaged in most areas and we now have to give it some time to know if the fry will hold,” he said. According to him, however, it is certain that in the Czech Republic there is practically nothing left of the stone fruit crop, in the case of apples, probably about a tenth of the crop survived the frost.
The owner of Hanč farma Vraňany, Milan Hanč, told ČTK and Czech Radio before today’s meeting that the damage to the strawberry crop in the whole of the Czech Republic amounts to approximately 50 million crowns. “The damage is quite significant, but it has decreased a bit compared to last week,” he said.
The Agrarian Chamber also wants money for vegetable and potato growers because of the frost
The Agrarian Chamber (AK CR) is demanding money from the Ministry of Agriculture for other sectors affected by the frost. According to the chamber, for example, growers of vegetables, potatoes, classic field crops or sugarcane are significantly damaged, and forest nurseries were also affected by the April frosts. The President of the Agrarian Chamber, Jan Doležal, asked the Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborny (KDU-ČSL) for the maximum possible extraordinary financial support in a letter that is available to ČTK. Excellent on the X network said that he learned about the letter from the media, and moreover just before the briefing, therefore he called such behavior unfair. When asked by ČTK, the spokeswoman of the AK CR Barbora Pánková stated that the letter was sent this morning via the standard route so that the minister had the documents as soon as possible.
According to Doležal, the damage caused by frost to farmers of agricultural crops is preliminarily estimated at more than four billion crowns. “Therefore, I would like to ask you to ensure the maximum possible extraordinary financial support from the domestic budget and from the European Union not only for the fruit sector, but to take it into account for other sectors affected by the April frosts so that the entities affected in this way can prove this year’s, often total, damage cold, to stand up economically,” Doležal said in a letter to the minister.
The minister told journalists today that he also met with representatives of forest nurseries and is aware of the effects of spring frosts on them. “It may have a negative impact on the restoration of Czech forests right now in the time after the bark beetle calamity,” said Výborný. According to the minister, however, the real damage will be documented only at the beginning of autumn, because if the conditions are favorable, nature can partly deal with the impacts on its own.
However, Výborný criticized the way in which he learned about the requirements of the Agrarian Chamber. “I like a fair approach and serious negotiations. I don’t really consider it serious that I learned about the letter with the demands of the Agrarian Chamber five minutes before the briefing, from the ČTK info service. If Mr. AK President Jan Doležal wants to act like this, I take it into account. I can also act without gloves,” he wrote on the X network.
In response, the Agrarian Chamber stated that it only reminded that the strong frost wave destroyed the crops of all growers and caused them great problems. According to her, it would be better if the minister remembered it himself. The spokeswoman added that the letter was sent this morning via data mailbox, i.e. the standard way.
According to the chamber’s estimate, the damage to vegetables amounts to hundreds of millions of crowns, and the frosts caused damage to forest nurseries worth around 500 million crowns. In orchards it is more than a billion crowns, in vineyards the damage exceeds two billion crowns. In the letter, Doležal praised, among other things, the minister’s helpfulness and active attitude in dealing with possible support for fruit growers.
CR cultivation weather government fruit frost VIDEO OPENER
