Hungarian green party urges govt assistance to drought-hit farmers

The opposition LMP party has called for significantly increasing the government’s fund aimed at providing compensation to agricultural producers affected by the current unprecedented droughts.

LMP co-leader Erzsébet Schmuck told a press conference on Thursday that the damage caused by the extremely dry weather in recent months was now in the 1,000 billion forint (EUR 2.5bn) range, and urged that irrigation projects should be launched without delay.

According to Schmuck, the drought fund was made up of a mere 10-12 billion forints, and suggested that Hungarian companies earning significant profits on importing grain, sunflower seeds and soy from Ukraine “could contribute” to the aid to farmers.