So far lack of snow has not caused many problems but forecasts state that snow is not expected in the next weeks, which can be problematic for the agriculture of Hungary. This issue affects not just one sector.

2013 was the year of agricultural growth of Hungary which contributed to 1% increase of Hungarian economy. According to speculations Hungarian economy would have only stagnated last year without the increase in agriculture. Without much precipitation agriculture this year is predicted to pull down GDP.

Experts say that sowing seems to be prosperous so far but the amount of precipitation needed for a good harvest is questionable. Autumn’s sowing is satisfactory as precipitation was sufficient and no great frosts have occurred so far.
József Vancsura, chairman of Grain Producer’s Association-Hungary (GPAH), claimed that if lack of precipitation is continued to stay, Hungary might face dry Spring and that can be an issue. At the moment little precipitation is bad but the situation is not serious.

For ideal harvest, in the next two weeks there should be a substantial amount of snow, which is unlikely according to recent forecast. Though snow is not expected, some experts claim that this weekend’s extraordinary warm weather might be accompanied by rain at some places. Overall lack of snow has now reached 100-150 millimetres and if no snow arrives until the end of February this amount can rise by another 100 millimetres which will significantly affect this year’s harvest.

Source: ORIGO

By Christian Keszthelyi for XpatLoop.com