site.btaNumber of Pasture Users' Animals Should Correspond to Size of Areas Used, Parliament Decides

Number of Pasture Users' Animals Should Correspond to Size of Areas Used, Parliament Decides

Sofia, July 16 (BTA) - Users of state and municipal pastures and
 commons who do not own animals or the number of the animals
does not correspond to the areas they use will have to acquire
the number and species corresponding to the standard per area
for one animal, set down in the law. Otherwise mayors of
municipalities, and regional agriculture directorates,
respectively, will have to terminate the contracts. Officials
who do not comply with this requirement will be sanctioned,
Parliament decided passing on first reading revisions to the
Agricultural Land Ownership and Use Act with 141 votes in favour
 and just one abstainee. The bill was tabled by the Council of
Ministers.
   
The aim is to use the funds for grasslands according to their
purpose, Agriculture and Food Minister Dessislava Taneva said. 
One-third of the fund for which applications are made goes to
users without livestock, analyses she quoted show.
 
The bill also features annual control of the number and species
of animals.
  
Contracts subject to termination will not be considered legal
grounds for support under the Agricultural Producers Support Act
 and subsidies for them will not be extended.
  
Wherever possible, applicants will be able to use the same areas
 they have under already expired contracts.
    
Other revisions provide that the purpose of meadows and commons
be changed only when there is an effective master plan for the
relevant territory or for the development of sites of national
and prime importance.
 
Bulgarian Socialist Party expressed concern with the enormous
number of checks provided for animal breeders. The purpose of
agricultural land should be changed in the case of approved
master plan, but this could mean that a large part of the areas
will be excluded, will not be used according to purpose and thus
 result in reducing the fund, MP Svetla Buchvarova said.
 
Taneva explained that this will be ex officio information and
will not provide additional encumbrance of producers.The
Movement for Rights and Freedoms will support the texts which
are in the interest of agricultural producers, MP Saliha Emin
said.

However, the party also wants to know whether serious
investments in animal feed will be made, whether there is a
shortage of commons, in what regions, as well as about the
nature and location of farmer complaints.