This year's drought has also hit the corn harvest. 37,000 decares of this crop have been completely destroyed, according to official reports. The Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture is appealing for urgent activation of the Agricultural Reserve of Europe to assist affected farmers, Nova TV reported.
Even where there is a harvest, it is below the critical minimum. Some farmers will not harvest because they say it is not worth the costs.
„Corn is from 150 to 250 kilograms per decare, which is extremely low. There are yields that are 10 kg/decare”, explains Valentin Vassilev.
„They were even worse than our pessimistic forecasts. We were betting on at least 400 kg/decare, and the final yield was 200 kg per decare”, explains Ivelina Papazova.
“Dobrudja finished with an average yield of 217 kg. In the farm we are in right now, ours, I will give examples - 2021 - 750 kg average yield of corn, last year - 400 kg, currently we are at 230 kg”, explained Radostina Zhekova, chairwoman of the Dobrudja Union of Grain Producers and member of the Board of the National Agricultural Council.
The main reason is climate change. “The last 3 years have been extremely dry. And this was the most catastrophic since I have been here. Many colleagues in the region say that they haven't seen such a drought in 35 years," explains Radostina Zhekova.
The losses are huge and cannot be compensated for with other crops, share the producers.
„Approximately 100 leva per hectare. That is, each farm will lose a lot of money. This year, the loss for our farm is about 300,000 leva," explained Radostina Zhekova.
„With sunflowers, the picture is no different, we are talking about average yields of about 140 kg/hectare. The best price so far has been 1,000 leva. Even if we take this price, there are 140 leva per hectare of income. With costs per hectare for growing sunflowers - from 180 leva. I don't even include the rent”, explains Ivelina Papazova.
Wheat yields are also 20 percent lower. “On April 20, 20 cm of snow fell in our area. On April 28, the thermometers recorded minus 18 degrees, and on May 5 it was over 30 degrees, i.e. in less than 10 days we are talking about an amplitude greater than about 30-40 degrees, which is extremely dangerous for plants in this phase of development and of course this also affected the autumn crops”, explained Ivelina Papazova.
Radostina Zhekova said that this means bankruptcies. “Certainly some of my colleagues banks do not want to lend them more. What will actually happen at the moment is that the debts they have to suppliers will not be repaid,” said Zhekova.
The crisis in the sector will inevitably affect rents. “Pandora's Box! Rents will not be what they were last year for sure and there will certainly be colleagues who will pay 30 leva rents, there will be 40, 50. Of course, there will also be 80 leva”, says Radostina Zhekova.
”The truth is that rent is obtained between 30 and 40 leva. I do not include depreciation, insurance, administrative costs here at all. If we have to calculate a percentage of the realized production at average sales prices, this is what we get”, says Ivelina.
Currently, the areas with rapeseed are increasing at the expense of corn. But this is not a panacea, not only because of crop rotation.
„We are definitely emphasizing autumn crops and, unfortunately, Romania is moving along the same track, Ukraine and Moldova too, i.e. if we reap good yields of autumn crops, there will be an oversupply in the Black Sea basin”, says Radostina.
The prices of wheat and corn are currently low, only sunflowers have slightly increased.
„We started at 760, currently there are offers at 960 - 980 leva, but this is not the thing that will fix the differences in our income”, says Radostina Zhekova.