OSLO, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Forecasts made by Norwegian officials showed that crop farming in Norway might suffer a loss of 5.5 billion kroner (666.6 million U.S. dollars) as a result of drought this year, the newspaper Nationen reported Monday.
"It is not surprising, but there is still some uncertainty about the figure. When looking at the developing situation of the growth season during the last weeks, the figure seems reasonable," said Lars Petter Bartnes, head of the Norwegian Farmers' Union.
Crop value during a normal year is 15.8 billion kroner. This year's value is calculated to be 10.3 billion kroner, which means that the total loss will be 5.5 billion kroner.
The loss is much more than the 1.1 billion kroner that the Norwegian Agriculture Agency expects for farmers to ask for crop damage compensation, the report said.
"It is an abnormally extreme situation now. The state must bring extra fresh measures. There is a drought crisis in many countries, and it is impossible to imagine that the whole situation will be solved only by import," said Merethe Furuberg from the Norwegian Farmers and Smallholders Union (NBS). (1 U.S. dollar = 8.25 Norwegian kroner)
