June the 16th, 2023 – Baranja mosquitoes have more or less always been quite a significant problem for eastern Croatia, but it seems the issue is now becoming worse than ever.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Baranja is currently faced with an unprecedented infestation of mosquitoes, and an unexpected paradox has also occurred – even after the treatment of these potentially harmful insects, there are twice as many of them as there were before.
The flooding has made mosquito numbers explode
The situation is particularly difficult in Kneževi Vinogradi, where people who don’t happen to own beekeeping gear and protective masks don’t even bother to think of going out and doing work in their garden or in yards.
“There have never been this many mosquitoes here before, we’ve always had them, but this year is exceptional because of the floods and the bad weather that was happening. It seems like this year billions of them have hatched. I guess you wouldn’t even be able to count them all,” said Josip Krcmar from Zmajevac for RTL.
Baranja mosquitoes are putting tourists off
In Baranja, locals generally make a living from agriculture and also from dabbling in tourism. Tourism has gradually been increasing in eastern Croatia as foreigners discover the country away from the coast. Tourists naturally want to try the famous Baranja dishes and warm hospitality, and not simply become food for hoards of mosquitoes themselves.
“The German media reported that there are so many mosquitoes in Baranja – people are literally canceling their holiday arrangements,” said Lajos Kolar.
Even the football pitches are sitting empty
Baranja boasts many football pitches where more than a hundred children normally train, but they are also empty because the kids are sick of being bitten.
“What can I tell you? Besides mosquitoes biting the kids and that being annoying, there are simply so many of them that they get into the children’s eyes and noses, mouths, so it’s getting harder and harder to handle,” explained Ivica Plantosar, head of the football school in Knezevi Vinogradi.
Baranja mosquitoes double after treatment
The Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Knezevi Vinogradi, Stojan Petrovic, says that according to the recommendation of the profession, they did both larvicidal treatment and treatments of adult mosquitoes with warm fogging. But the results have been shocking – there are even more Baranja mosquitoes now than there were before.
“The results from before treatment and after treatment are negligible – there’s been an increase of 100 percent, which means that the funds have been used, but there’s been no effect. We have 700 hectares of water surfaces and 5,000 hectares of forests, that was clearly not enough,” he says.
Plenkovic has been called on to help
The municipality is now looking for the means to engage in aerial dusting, for which there is no money. They have now written to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and asked him for help in allocating the necessary funds, writes Danas.hr.
