Slovak government to help farmers affected by frost

The Slovak government will seek ways to help farmers, especially fruit growers whose crops have been affected by frost in late April, announced Slovak Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Gabriela Matecna on Wednesday.

The approximate damage cited by Matecna earlier in the day was about 35 million euros(40 million U.S.dollars).

"I've told the government about the situation, and I've proposed some possibilities about how this situation was tackled in Austria," explained Matecna, adding that Austria has suffered serious crop damage and will certainly ask the European Commission to come up with compensation.

According to Matecna, it's too early to speak about the possibility that Slovak farmers could be compensated from the state budget.

The Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPPK) said this week that the frost that hit Slovakia's most fertile regions in the final week of April has caused multi-million losses to crops.

As reported by SPPK members, the loss in the entire western part of the country has reached about 6.3 million euros (7.24 million U.S.dollars), said SPPK spokesperson Jana Holeciova.

Slovak farmers reported that sugar beet, maize, lucerne, orchards, sunflowers, vineyards, rapeseed and vegetables have been heavily damaged.

Unusually strong frost in late April hit several countries in the region, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Italy.