At a meeting on Wednesday, the government decided to declare a state-level emergency due to spring frosts, which have severely damaged the harvest of berries and early vegetables.
According to preliminary assessments by the Ministry of Agriculture and local municipalities, in some regions up to 50-90 percent of the harvest has been destroyed, depending on the crop, and in some areas up to 100 percent of the berry and fruit harvest.
The municipalities of Lazdijai and Vilkaviškis districts had previously declared municipal-level emergencies due to a natural meteorological phenomenon - frost during the period of active plant vegetation.
According to the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, the first half of March was the warmest since 1961 – the average air temperature reached 5,3 °C (positive anomaly – 5,8 °C).
After a record-breaking warm second decade of April, when the average air temperature in Lithuania reached 12,4 °C, i.e. a positive anomaly of 5,7 °C (a record-high temperature of 29,1 °C was recorded on April 18 in Western Lithuania), the active plant vegetation season began in almost all areas of the country almost 2 weeks earlier than usual.
However, in the last week of April, temperatures dropped sharply, and since then the country has been experiencing severe and prolonged frosts that have lasted for more than five weeks. These adverse weather conditions have caused enormous damage to orchards and berry bushes, many of which were already in bloom and in some places already bearing early fruit.
Vygantas Tuzas (ELTA)
