Romania This Time

More drought:

Farmers have threatened to protest unless they receive more government help in coping with a prolonged drought that has destroyed millions of hectares (acres) of crops.

The drought has cost Romania €1.5 billion (US$2 billion) in damages and has affected more than a third of the country’s arable land, an agriculture official said Saturday.

Some 2.6 million hectares (6.42 million acres) of crops have been damaged by the arid spell, 36 percent of the country’s total arable land, Agriculture Ministry official Gheorghe Albu said.