Rēzekne municipality council Members call for an emergency situation in agriculture in the administrative territory of Rezekne
On 29 August, at the emergency meeting of the Rēzekne District Council, the members of the council unanimously decided to invite the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia to announce the emergency situation in the administrative territory of Rezekne, providing for the impact of the operation of the prescribed regime for agricultural enterprises for at least 24 months.
MEPs decided to encourage the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Latvia to implement business support measures to overcome the crisis situation, but The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia -- to provide financial support to entrepreneurs and residents in order to partially compensate losses caused by floods.
According to data from the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre on 23 and 24 August 2017, the amount of precipitation in the Rēzekne Observation Station at 32 hours reached 159 millimetres or 229% from the norm of August, resulting in total or partial flooding of significant areas of agricultural land as well as damaged road infrastructure. According to information initially collected, more than 7500 ha of agricultural crops are affected.
The situation of farmers in the administrative territory of the municipality is critical in the areas affected by the floods in the areas affected by the floods, and thus the municipality seeks State aid to farmers in difficulty.
“Until the rays of the Rēzekne municipality had been able to harvest up to 15% cereals, the harvest was expected to be very good, 8-10 t/ha. Now no more than half are harvested if a large proportion of the cereals are captured, the quality of the grain is low.“ They're all, ”-- said Peter Stanka, Member of the Rēzekne council.
The Members also decided to call on the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia to propose amendments to the laws and regulations, defining “crisis situation” as well as providing the right for local governments to announce a crisis situation, as the local government does not have the right to announce an emergency situation in its territory if such necessity has occurred.
Prior to the meeting of the emergency council, a meeting of the Commission of civil protection of the municipality of Rezekne was held, where THE reports of THE VUGD, the State Environmental Service, the State Police, the “distribution networks” officials regarding the conduct in emergency situations were heard. THE chairman OF the Rēzekne municipality council Monvīds Švarcs thanked all the services, as well as the Chairman of the company “Latgale Energy”, Jānis Novokblaov, on the operational and concerted action in the floods.
Anna Rancāne