An emergency meeting was convoked at the Romanian Agriculture Ministry on Monday morning to discuss the situation in several regions across the country that have been severely affected by drought. Also today, a national emergency committee will analyze the effects of the drought and seek measures to avoid more damage in the agriculture sector.

Agriculture minister Decebal Traian Remes has already complained that irrigation was used for a very limited number of crops despite expectations of a lasting drought. He has demanded updated information on the situation of irrigated land in 17 counties.

Authorities in several counties including Dolj, Constanta, Olt, Caras-Severin, Giurgiu and Iasi, most of them in south Romania, have called for a state of calamity to be declared in their regions as drought has compromised large farming areas.

And the situation is extremely difficult for the village of Rast in Dolj county, south Romania. The village and the villagers’ crops were completely ravaged by floods last year. And now all they have managed to seed is compromised because the irrigation system installed there did not work, according to local officials.