Officials from nine southern European Union countries pledged this week to work together to develop more water-saving technologies in agriculture. Farmers are feeling the strain of worsening droughts, which in turn threaten food security.
The promises came during a gathering in Cyprus of the so-called Med9 countries – France, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain – to address growing water scarcity as a result of climate change.
Officials also pledged to share technical and practical data and launch joint research programs to make water use as efficient as possible.
“Climate change is a real threat to food production worldwide, and this risk is even more severe in the Mediterranean area,” Spain’s Agriculture Minster Luis Planas told the meeting.
“We must both fight climate change and, at the same time, adapt the working conditions of our farmers to this new climate situation,” he added.
'Smart' irrigation, drought-resistant crops
Cyprus' Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou also warned that last year, Europe faced one of its worst droughts in history and cited local examples of “smart” irrigation systems and technologies that help protect crops, generate power and save water use by 30 percent.
Portuguese Agriculture Minister Jose Manuel Fernandes urged for more EU funding to help finance new water-saving technologies and create new incentives to attract younger people to revitalise an ageing farming population.
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France's Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau highlighted latest techniques that help create new crops able to thrive in harsher climate conditions, while Fernandes said so-called genomic research is “totally different” to genetically modified crops that have stirred controversy within the bloc in the past.
The Med9 officials also urged the European Union to come up with a common approach to water conservation while taking into account regional requirements.
“As the climate crisis will have a major impact on global food security, climate change adaptation must be placed at the heart of our common policies,” Slovenia's Agriculture Minster Mateja Čalušić said.
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(with AP)
