Bulgarian Tobacco Growers to Receive Their Money by End of April

Bulgaria's tobacco growers will receive their money for the 2013 harvest by the end of April, the government has promised.

Since the turn of the year, tobacco growers around the country have been staging protests and blockades, demanding an increase in subsidies, higher buy-out prices, as well as full payments from the government and companies they have concluded deals with.

Kornelia Ninova from the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) assured tobacco growers that they would receive their full payments by the end of April. She added that for the first time, as much as BGN 100 M has been set aside for tobacco growers in the 2014 state budget.

Another measure the government is planning, is to have tighter regulation on companies and firms purchasing tobacco, through a new registration system, Investor.bg revealed.

Next week, there is a scheduled advisory meeting between representatives of the tobacco growers and the Minister of Agriculture.