CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE INCREASINGLY VISIBLE - Greater interest of young people in agriculture needed

A seminar dedicated to climate change and its impact on agriculture was held at the stand of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, which was discussed by Professor of Meteorology at the Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade, Ana Vukovic Vimić.

In particular, it was pointed out to the increasingly serious consequences of climate change on domestic agriculture, but also to the problem of reduced interest of young people in agricultural sciences. As Professor Vukovic Vimić pointed out, only about 1.5 percent of students are enrolled in faculties in the field of agriculture and forestry, despite the fact that more than a million people in Serbia are engaged in these activities and that almost half of the territory is used as agricultural land.
– Since the beginning of the 2000s, our territory has been irreversibly heated. The climate system does not react in such a way as to return to a stable state, but we are in a growing stage of warming – said Ana Vuković Vimić.
Speaking about the consequences that are already visible on the ground, she reminded that last year was extremely difficult for almost all branches of agricultural production, except for viticulture, while arable farming has been suffering serious losses for three years and has recorded yields 30 to 40 percent lower than the European average. She added that some estimates of experts on climate change are already being realized, which is why scientists can now predict the further development of climate processes with much greater certainty.
Particular attention during the seminar was paid to the increase in the number of extremely hot days. According to her, the number of days with temperatures higher than 35 degrees Celsius is now ten times higher than before, which is becoming more frequent and longer during the summer.
The professor explained that Serbia still receives enough precipitation overall, even has a little more water than before, but the key problem is their schedule. Summers are getting longer and drier, while there are fewer days with moderate and evenly distributed precipitation, which makes agricultural production and sowing and yield planning even more difficult.