The village of Kovragë in the municipality of Istog was hit by heavy hail yesterday, damaging agricultural crops.
Xhevdet Gjoci, a farmer from the village, said that all of his crops were completely destroyed and that nothing was spared.
“We have suffered total damage, nothing was spared—not corn, watermelons, melons, peppers, nothing. Here we are looking at just one part where I had melons and peppers, while the other fields have different crops that were completely damaged. In all my years, I don’t remember hail lasting this long, with half an hour of storms and strong winds. We were even a little afraid for ourselves. It is clear that everything has been completely destroyed. Hail has fallen before, but something would always survive; the more resistant crops would make it through. But this year, nothing survived here—not even the corn,” he told KosovaPress.
Gjoci said that the damage caused by yesterday’s hail amounts to €40,000. According to him, two years ago, he earned €60,000 from the same area.
“The value is based solely on investments. One hectare of peppers and more than three hectares of melons and watermelons—the investment alone exceeds €20,000. Based on this amount, we had calculated that we would earn at least around €40,000 from this land. The production had been very good. I am saying at least, because two years ago, I earned more than €60,000 from the same area. I have often told the ministry to at least protect our prices, protect our market,” he said.
During the day, Acting Minister of Agriculture Armend Muja, together with the Mayor of Istog, Ilir Ferati, visited farmers affected by yesterday’s hailstorm, which destroyed agricultural crops in the municipality.
