Drought threatens in Belgium and worries farmers
Belgian farmers and breeders are worried. Spring is already very dry this year and the few rains produced may not be enough to compensate for this imbalance.
Jean-Luc Dewez owns a 66-hectare farm near Namur. It produces cereals and sugar beet. The soils are parched due to the lack of precipitation and the north-easterly wind which has been blowing in recent weeks. He scrutinizes metropolitan spies to hope to save his crops.
“If it doesn’t rain by the beginning of June, then it could be problematic. Really ! At the level of all crops and all productions“, he warns.
On dry soils fertilizers do not penetrate deeply. Without water and without fertilizer production is expected to be weaker, explains Laurent Gomand, owner of a neighboring farm. This drought is a double penalty for him because without fodder production, he risks encountering difficulties in feeding his 250 cows and 600 goats.
“The first spring grass cuts, they’re really weak. That’s half of what we recalled last year“, specifies the breeder.
Laurent Gomand is already anticipating the difficulties of the coming months for his operation. “This means that we will have to buy raw materials which are obviously very expensive, since the economic situation, the geopolitical context, is such that everything we buy, everything we have to buy, is very expensive.“, he worries.
The agricultural world believes that it is still too early to speak of a disaster. But the current situation with the war in Ukraine is placing additional costs on the sector.
“Fertilizers are extremely expensive and in times of drought they are less effective, whereas we would like to have a period where this efficiency is increased, it is the opposite due to drought. If the livestock feed needs to be supplemented tomorrow, it could also be extremely expensive.“, warns the secretary general of the Walloon Federation of Agriculture, José Renard.
Belgium is not the only country in Europe affected by this phenomenon. France should for example know the month of hottest may ever and suggests a summer marked by drought.