As climate change disrupts traditional farming in Croatia, one farmer near the capital Zagreb is embracing the heat. Ivan Sulog cultivates more than 50 types of tropical fruits — from mangoes to Indian bananas — once impossible to grow in continental Europe.
00:00The Mediterranean is a global warming hotspot and Croatia is feeling the heat.
00:06More frequent droughts and heat waves are impacting traditional fruit farming.
00:11Apple production alone is expected to drop by 27% this year.
00:16Alongside climate challenges, local growers face pressure from cheaper imports.
00:22But in Doña Bistra, a village in the Zagoria region of continental Croatia,
00:27one farmer sees opportunity amidst the challenge.
00:3525 years ago, he planted his first kiwano, also known as African cucumber.
00:41Today, his gardens and plantations boast a variety of exotic fruits, around 50 different types.
00:48The climate changes. Sahara moved to the Mediterranean.
00:51She went to Spain.
00:53In this greenhouse, which Ivan calls his showroom, there are many plants that few people have even heard of.
01:08Here he prepares them, studies their growth and the conditions needed for outdoor cultivation.
01:14From winter, you go to winter, from winter, you go to winter.
01:20The spring and summer are not yet.
01:22Everything goes to my hand.
01:24And now, the plants I've learned from which I've learned,
01:27must put them on open.
01:29It's an opportunity to put them on open.
01:31On one side of the hill, there is a cornfield.
01:33On the other side, a large plantation of so-called Indian bananas, also known as pawpaw.
01:39A fruit Ivan is especially proud of.
01:42This is Indian banana.
01:44It comes from South America.
01:45It's called Indian because they're eating Indians.
01:48It reminds me of a cream of banana cream.
01:51It's one of the most delicious fruits you've ever eaten.
01:54It doesn't require any protection.
01:56There's no sprays or anything.
01:58These are the flowers.
02:00We have to remove now the only top.
02:05Nepalese workers help with production.
02:08Subash came to Croatia for work, never expecting to grow a fruit he'd never heard of.
02:13After three years, he knows a lot about the Indian banana.
02:17Now it is hot.
02:19After one month, it will be for eating and we can harvest.
02:22And we can make different types of varieties like honey, ice cream.
02:28We can make beer, wine, many, many, many varieties we can make from this.
02:36I found different type of fruit, which I didn't find in our country, but I found here.
02:43Agriculture is among Croatia's most climate vulnerable sectors, with crop yields expected to drop up to 5% by 2050, especially corn, sunflower and some fruit.
02:56But professor Dani Benčić from the Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture says Croatia's water and healthy soil offer real potential for adaptation and sustainable farming.
03:08So, as I said, it is possible to be the only one that meets the first stores and other ones,
03:10So, we can also add and make these special types of vesicles into different types of vesicles.
03:11Real food, and that is a mix of the other ones,
03:13So, before we talk about the ways you can get done,
03:14There is no other one that will not happen for the most!
03:15We can make these different types of vesicles,
03:16Especially with our waters andné earth so that we can see them and take these different types of vesicles.
03:17We can also make these different types of vesicles as well.
03:18We can make these different types of vesicles based on the well-made celestial types of vesicles,
03:20And sometimes we can store them.
03:22There is different types of vesicles and more things,
03:23The main types of vesicles.
03:24So, there is, it's even наша, and theلام,
03:26of continental, mediteransk and subtrop.
03:30We need an introduction, an introduction,
03:34and then to see what goes and what doesn't go.
03:38In the 1960s and 1970s,
03:42the mandarinsk has been shown as the best.
03:46Avokadu can be used in Dalmatia.
03:50We planted african leaves on Cres,
03:52without any problems,
03:54in my definition is to do something that no one else does.
04:00Climate change is reshaping agriculture,
04:03with some farmers in Croatia now growing exotic fruit.
04:06Yet the same shifts threaten farming,
04:09with harsh droughts, extreme weather
04:12and unstable harvests that put entire regions at risk.
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