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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Improving hail protection in Serbia

Valjevo, 24 December 2019

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Branislav Nedimovic visited today an automatic hail protection system in Blizonje near Valjevo, whose construction and the equipping cost RSD 308 million.

The centre automatically manages anti-hail rockets from 99 launch positions in a short time of operation and protects the area of 13 municipalities, i.e. more than 560,000 hectares of land with a success rate of 70 percent.

Brnabic said that the automatic hail protection system is a very important thing as one of the systemic strategic investments for making agricultural production more efficient, with higher crop yield.

She underlined that the state has been working on the establishment of an automatic hail protection professionally and with dedication since 2016, noting that the results are now starting to show.

This is the first automated radar centre in southern Europe and once again we have shown that Serbia is and can be a leader, the Prime Minister said, adding that she is especially proud that the anti-hail rocket system is the work of the domestic corporation Trayal.

According to Brnabic, RSD 600 million have been earmarked for this purpose in the 2020 state budget, so the automation of hail protection will be continued in Fruska Gora, Uzice and Bukulja.

The Prime Minister also announced that the state will continue to support agriculture through systemic measures, specifying that in the field of hail protection, this means subsidies for insurance of up to 70 percent, i.e. for the procurement of anti-hail equipment.

Responding to the questions from journalists, Brnabic said that Valjevo needs at least one more big investment to create new jobs.

She said that the Serbian government conducts talks with the Chinese company Hisense, which owns Gorenje and expressed her hope that this company will expand production and product range in Valjevo.

Nedimovic explained that the radar centre near Valjevo is now digitized, so the reaction speed to firing is 20 seconds, when anti-hail rockets can shoot 16 targets.

The hail-carrying clouds in Serbia are mostly coming from the west, which is why it is important for Serbia to invest in 25 stations from Vlasenica to Rude in Republika Srpska, in order to act in a timely manner and avoid the hail and damage in the important fruit-growing area in Serbia along the Drina.

During the visit of Brnabic and Nedimovic, two anti-hail rockets were successfully fired from the radar centre of Blizonje.

Instead of shooters who were previously on guard at more than 200 radar positions, the anti-hail rockets are now launched automatically from one centre and the rocket positions are technologically and energetically autonomous and trained for such action.