Bulgarian Fruit, Vegetable Producers to Stage Protests over Distribution of Financial Aid

Bulgarian fruit and vegetable producers have threatened protests over the unfair distribution of financial aid by sectors by the Agriculture Ministry.

Krasimir Kyuchukov, Chair of the Bulgarian Greenhouse Growers' Association (BGGA), demanded a clearly-defined methodology for the distribution of coupled support totaling BGN 119 M a year by 2020 between the livestock and fruit and vegetable sectors.

"Data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) indicates that fruit and vegetable consumption stands at 69%, while livestock farming has a share of 31%. At the same time, what happened was that the livestock farming sector was allocated a sum of over BGN 80 M, while fruit and vegetable producers were given BGN 37 M," Kyuchukov said Tuesday, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

He underscored that both sectors were in dire straits and insisted that livestock producers had been given more money because they organized eye-catching protests to demonstrate their dissatisfaction, while fruit and vegetable producers suffered injustice in silence.

Kyuchukov warned that Bulgaria would have no fruit and vegetable production in 3-4 years' time, unless the state helped producers, adding that 80-90% of what was sold on the commodity exchange had been imported.