Shutting down the anti-hail system poses major risk for grape crops and orchards not yet harvested, says the director of the Hail Combat Unit (UCCG) Moldova II Vrancea, Ionut Lucian Lazar.

The specification comes in the context in which, on Tuesday, the operation of the National Anti-Hail and Precipitation Increase System was stopped after the Ministry of Agriculture announced that the necessary funds for the operation activity for the current year were not found.

„As a result of a notification from the Ministry of Agriculture, by which we were informed that the necessary funds for the further financing of the anti-hail system had not been identified, starting from September 1, we entered conservation and guarding, a month and a half earlier than normal. Stopping the system at this time poses a major risk. Considering that the vineyards and orchards are not harvested, and the current temperatures are quite high for this period, there is still the risk of cloudy formations with potential of hail, which could lead to damaging unharvested crops at this moment. These crops remain exposed to extreme weather phenomena”, Ionut Lazar told AGERPRES.

Under these conditions, around 230 employees will have their salaries reduced by 30%, but there is the fear of the employees that this system might not be put back into operation in the autumn, as a result of the intense protests of the farmers in the areas affected by the drought.

„The system has about 230 employees in Vrancea County, who were withdrawn at this moment the 30% operative bonus, so their salaries were reduced. In the next period, they will only carry out the activities of guarding and preserving the installations. We don’t know what decisions the Government will take in the future, if this system is made operational in the spring. I would only attribute the ministry’s notification to the difficult financial year have contributed to some extent to making this decision. Taking into account the increase in the risk of hail, the value of the damage would certainly be greater than keeping the anti-hail units in operation condition”, Ionut Lazar said.

He gave the example of a similar situation in the Republic of Moldova, where, a few years ago, the anti-hail system was closed due to financial difficulties, being put back into operation a few days after the hail caused major damage on several hundred vine hectares.

The Hail Combat Unit Moldova II has 20 functional anti-hail launch points, 12 of which are in Vrancea County and eight in Galati County. A launch point can protect up to 12,000 hectares, the degree of combating this phenomenon and protecting crops with the help of anti-hail missiles is between 75 and 80%.

AGERPRES