The excessive import of fruits and vegetables will be reduced in order to stimulate local production, Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev told state television BNT on Saturday, adding that the government is preparing a law to regulate this trade.
Almost 80% of the fruits and vegetables consumed in Bulgaria are imported, as well as 50% of the meat, which causes the protests of the local producers.
“It is absurd to import (so much) fruits and vegetables. There is a lack of rules for trade in agricultural products and food. We are preparing such a law (to regulate trade),” said the minister.
Bulgarian agriculture has a long tradition of growing fruits and vegetables because of the good soils and climate, but in recent years there has been a big drop in production and an increase in imports. Farmers have been demanding state protections for local production for years, but have done very little to develop cooperatives to offer large volumes of agricultural products to international markets.
he largest imports of fruits and vegetables in Bulgaria are from Turkey and Greece.
“Rules are needed to introduce a regulation of commercial relationships along the entire food chain from the field to the store shelf,” comments Kiril Vatev.
He added that Bulgaria is one of the best in Europe for food quality because it has the fewest recorded food poisonings
On Friday, the Agriculture Ministry announced that it sent its changes in the Strategic Plan, which creates the rules for absorbing European subsidies until 2027, for approval to the EU Commission. The total EU subsidy for Bulgarian agriculture is €8 billion for the next four years.
The new rules provide that the annual subsidy for young farmers will be doubled – from €20,000 to €40,000. The state provides for the allocation of start-up capital for entry into the agricultural branch €30,000 At the same time, the budget for maintaining and improving biodiversity and ecological infrastructure was reduced by €120 million, but the budget for helping farmers to reduce the use of pesticides was increased by €240 million.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
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