World Meteorological Day: Macedonian Agriculture is Already Living The Climate Crisis
In North Macedonia, where there are around 180,000 agricultural producers, meteorology has long ceased to be just a matter of forecasting - it is a matter of production, income, and survival. The last decade, 2011-2020, was the warmest since meteorological measurements began in the country, and during the same period, more than 14 additional heatwave days were recorded across the country. Projections show that by 2050, the average annual temperature could rise by 1 to 3.3 degrees Celsius. By the end of the century, under a medium greenhouse gas emissions scenario, annual precipitation could decrease by up to 20 percent, while summer precipitation could drop by up to 30 percent. For agriculture, these figures mean only one thing: less predictability, greater risk, and increasing pressure on food production.
Projections also point to a growing likelihood of severe drought in the coming decades. This means that, for farmers, weather is becoming less and less something they can adapt to through experience alone, and more and more something that requires accurate data, timely warnings, and concrete solutions in the field. Professor Ordan Chukaliev from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food (FASF) warns that the problem is not only the amount of rainfall, but also its increasingly unfavorable distribution.
In this context, the Regional Climate Partnership between Germany and the Western Balkans is an important platform for a joint response, knowledge exchange and improving the resilience of agriculture in the region. German support through GIZ connects policies with practice – at the national level in all six countries, the development of climate adaptation policies in agriculture is supported, while in North Macedonia the support is complemented by a pilot project demonstrating concrete solutions.
“Unfortunately, rainfall is decreasing not only in overall quantity, but also in its distribution, which is especially unfavorable for agriculture. During the vegetation period, there will be even less water, while at the same time we will face floods, because rainfall will be less frequent but more intense. Frost will also occur more often, along with droughts and heatwaves. These changes have a strongly negative impact on agriculture, which is directly exposed because it takes place outdoors, where climate risk quickly and severely turns into damage. We must bring advanced technologies and practices to the fields if we want to secure the future of our children, because the changes ahead of us are serious. So serious that there is a risk that the already sensitive and dry areas in the country could expand further and affect us even more strongly. We must be prepared. This is the moment to act. If we wait until the changes fully catch up with us, it will already be too late,” Chukaliev points out.
This is also confirmed by Stevan Orozovikj, Executive Director of the National Federation of Farmers, who says that in recent years farmers have been facing rising temperatures, long dry periods, unstable rainfall, and frost during critical stages of vegetation more than anything else.
“These phenomena seriously disrupt production planning, because farmers cannot accurately predict the conditions for sowing, irrigation, and harvest. As a result, both the quality and the quantity of agricultural production are reduced. Climate change has a direct negative impact on both agriculture and livestock production, leading to lower food production and putting the sustainability of agricultural holdings at risk. For farmers, the most important investments are in the rehabilitation and modernization of irrigation systems, because water is becoming a key resource for food production. Greater support is also needed for the introduction of green innovations and new technologies in agriculture, as well as for educating producers on adapting to climate change. Stronger cooperation between institutions, the scientific community, and civil society organizations is also essential in order to ensure sustainable and resilient agriculture,” Orozovikj explains.
That is precisely why the support provided by the German Government through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in North Macedonia is so important, through a pilot project implemented in cooperation with the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food (FASF). The project has a clear objective: to test and demonstrate climate change adaptation methods in fruit and vegetable production at the FASF experimental field in Skopje. Instead of adaptation remaining only a topic for strategies and documents, here it is being brought directly to the field - where the risk is real and the solutions must be practical.
As part of the pilot project, precision irrigation, cover crops, climate-resilient varieties, frost protection, protective nets, as well as modelling and software tools are being tested. At the same time, work is also being done to raise awareness and strengthen farmers’ capacities, so that the new methods and technologies do not remain purely demonstrational, but become understandable and useful for producers. This approach is especially important in conditions where adaptation must be both scientifically grounded and practically proven.
In this regard, Professor Chukaliev stresses that the project is not only about testing technologies, but also about creating a public knowledge base that will be accessible to farmers.
“For all these technologies we are applying, we are preparing user guidelines for farmers. They will be publicly available. They will be transferred to the Agriculture Agency. In other words, every technology we test will also be documented so that someone can apply it in their own field. We want to engage not only experts from the agricultural sector, but also those from sectors related to agriculture, and to share with them all the data we have. This means that the goal is not only to show what works, but to transfer that knowledge more broadly and make it usable,” Chukaliev explains.
Irena Dzhimrevska from GIZ further points out that the facts in North Macedonia already clearly show the direction in which the climate is moving and what that means for agriculture:
“The data and the factual situation in North Macedonia show clear signs of climate change, including early spring temperature fluctuations and frost damage, more frequent and longer-lasting heatwaves, prolonged drought periods, and extreme rainfall events. These conditions are already affecting agriculture through water scarcity, floods, reduced yields, lower product quality, as well as the emergence of new pests and diseases. Germany, through GIZ, supports climate change adaptation in agriculture in the Western Balkans, and a key element in North Macedonia is the demonstration pilot project at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food in Skopje, where various adaptation tools and methods are being tested. This support is important because it brings together analysis, policies, and practice in one place,” Dzhimrevska adds.
For a country with around 180,000 agricultural producers, with increasingly pronounced heatwaves, less summer rainfall, and a growing risk of drought and frost, adaptation is no longer a matter of choice. It is a necessity. World Meteorological Day should therefore be read both as a warning and as a call to action: agriculture in North Macedonia can no longer rely on old seasonal rules in a new climate reality. It needs accurate data, timely warnings, new practices, investment, and a strong link between science, institutions, and farmers.
In the end, the question is no longer whether climate change will affect agriculture. It is already happening. The question is how quickly and how seriously we will respond. And it is precisely there - at the intersection of meteorological information, scientific knowledge, and practical solutions in the field - that a more resilient Macedonian agriculture is being built.