Italian Drought Causes 500 Million Euro Loss - Farmers

28 July 2006Planetark

Coldiretti, Italy's biggest farmers' group, said the Po river had in one place dropped to a record low of 7.41 metres (24 feet 4 inches) below sea level. Water levels of the big northern lakes were also below the sea, it said.

"The impact on Italy is devastating, especially in the north ... the water reserves are almost finished," Rolando Manfredini, a weather expert at Coldiretti, told Reuters.

With the water levels so low, Manfredini said there was the danger of salty seawater flowing inland, hurting crops.

Coldiretti has asked authorities to help farmers by releasing Alpine water reserves stored for power production.

An official at the Agriculture Ministry said maize and rice output could each fall some 5-10 percent as a result of the dry weather.

The ministry will compile further estimates of the damage to production at a meeting on Friday.

Unusually hot weather -- with temperatures exceeding 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) for weeks -- and a lack of rain have hurt farmers across Europe.