Half the trouble if it was only about pumpkins, although they are our export hit. This year, both the pumpkins and the harvest are smaller. This year's drought is damaging many crops. This hits both farmers and all of us in the pocket. What price are we already paying for the climate crisis?
Beautiful, plump and plump – at least at first glance, because a short conversation with farmers is enough to know that they should be plumper and bigger.
– The pumpkins are much smaller than they should be, there are much fewer of them on the plant – says Joanna Kaciupa from the “Dyniowe Pole” farm. This is a voice from the West Pomeranian Voivodeship.
This, in turn, is a voice from Mazovia: – We see the yield reduced by 20, 30, sometimes up to 50 percent. This 20 percent is what any normal farm can withstand – says Paweł Myziak, owner of the “Euro-Papryka” company and member of the Association of Paprika Producers of the Republic of Poland. Many farms will no longer be able to withstand a 50 percent decline.
Poland is the pumpkin power of Europe
It's all because of this year's drought, which has affected almost the entire country. This season, at the worst moment, it affected as many as 13 voivodeships, as well as our export goods, because it turns out that Poland is a pumpkin powerhouse in all of Europe.
– At first, the bushes did not want to grow, and later the pumpkin even suffered sunburn because the bush was not developed enough to cover the fruit – says Edgar Latała from the “Jedynie” farm.
The orange pumpkin is not only a symbol of Halloween. Over the past 10 years, pumpkin production has increased eightfold. As much as 400,000 tons of it are grown annually. In this context, any bad news seems even worse.
Previously drought, now extreme downpours. Climatologists: such phenomena will become more and more frequent Marta Kolbus/Fakty po Południu TVN24
– When there is no water, we will die and our plants will die – says Paweł Myziak. Data from the Polish Economic Institute show that due to drought we lose crops worth PLN 6.5 billion annually in Poland.
With better irrigation, grain yields could be increased by 20 percent, and the yields of tuber crops – such as potatoes and celery – by as much as 30 percent. This is one of the main problems of Polish farmers today.
The drought has taken its toll across the country
This year, as many as 170,000 agricultural producers submitted applications to the Ministry of Agriculture for the assessment of agricultural damage resulting from drought.
– Very big losses, we collected much fewer pumpkins than expected – says Joanna Kaciupa. All these numbers show how much the climate crisis is already costing us. And scientists add that it will cost more.
– Violent weather phenomena such as hailstorms, droughts interrupted by floods or sudden waves of frost. All this makes growing food more difficult and yields less predictable – says Dr. Sebastian Szklarek from the European Regional Center for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, author of the blog “Świat Młodych”.
Therefore, to ensure predictable yields, more and more farmers decide to invest in a weather-independent irrigation system.
– Agriculture is moving towards controlled watering, i.e. crops under cover, protected crops, irrigated crops – says Paweł Myziak. However, this may be unattainable for many farmers.
– It will cost us a lot, and we are not a large farm – points out Joanna Kaciupa.
Main photo source: TVN24