No Drought Threat in Hungary for the Time Being

Only the soil surface is dry in some areas of the south-eastern part of Hungary, thus, there is no threat drought in for the time being the country, according to a summary published on the website of the FruitVeb Hungarian Fruit and Vegetable Interbranch Organization and Product Council on Monday.

The water supply of the middle and deeper soil layers is good in most parts of the country, with only small areas experiencing temporary water shortages, the National Meteorological Service said. The near-surface part of the soil has dried out only in the southeast of the the country: in Szeged and along the Körös rivers, and the moisture needed for spring sowing is missing from the upper layers in Szeged and in the regions of Mezőtúr, Szeghalom and Mezőberény.

However, they added that agriculture is already suffering from a significant lack of rainfall in many parts of the continent. “Data from the European Drought Observatory (EDO) show that drought is severe in the eastern Balkans, France, Italy and especially Spain. Here, cereals, sunflowers, fruit trees and vegetables are all affected, with drought losses estimated so far this year at up to EUR 4 billion," FruitVeb says.