site.bta Direct Payments to Farmers for 2015 Campaign Totals Lv 1.4 Bln - Minister

Direct Payments to Farmers for 2015 Campaign Totals Lv 1.4 Bln - Minister


Sofia, January 20 (BTA) - The total budget for direct payments
in the 2015 campaign stands at 1,400 million leva, with coupled
payment being applied for the first time, Agriculture and Food
Minister Dessislava Taneva told a news conference Tuesday.
Taneva and Deputy Agriculture Minister Vassil Groudev presented
the seven schemes of direct payment which will support farmers
in the new 2015-2020 programme period.

The first scheme is the single area payment scheme. This is the
principal and most simple direct payment scheme for Bulgaria
until 2020, at which the budget is expected to reach some 597
million leva for 2014, Taneva said.

The budget for the so-called "greening payments" is 464 million
leva, and these involve three requirements: crop
diversification, maintenance of permanent pasture, the
preservation of environmental reservoirs and landscapes, Groudev
explained.

Cross-compliance payments are designed to allow all farmers to
receive larger subsidies for the first 30 ha and its budget has
been set at 109 million leva.

The scheme for young farmers has set aside 7 million leva which
will allow them to receive an additional 25 per cent payment
over the single area payment scheme for their first 30 ha,
Taneva said.

Subsidies under the small farmers scheme can range between 500
and 1,250 euro and candidates can enter the scheme voluntarily
only in 2015, Groudev said.

The scheme of coupled payment, set down at about 232 million
leva, will provide additional support to priority sectors like
animal husbandry, fruit and vegetables, as well as promoting the
generation of additional added value in agriculture.

Three separate coupled payment schemes have been designed for
the fruit and vegetable sectors with a budget of 79 million a
year, a fivefold increase compared to 2012.

Capping will replace the schemes of national additional payments
and will be applied until 2020 on a gradually declining budget.
It will be provided under the schemes and the eligibility
conditions of 2013 for cattle, ewes and tobacco, Taneva
said.