site.btaUPDATED Farmers Block Road to Turkish Border after Hail Destroys 1,000 Ha of Crops

Farmers from the southern town of Sadovo blocked the road leading to the border with Turkey on Wednesday morning, the Bulgarian National Television reported. Long lines of cars and trucks formed and tensions erupted between protesters and drivers. The farmers protested against a ban to use hail suppression rockets, which caused 1,000 ha of crops to be destroyed by hail on Tuesday.

The protest was led by Sadovo Mayor Dimiter Zdravkov. People threatened that they will continue to protest every day by blocking the international road. 

Hristo Atanasov, mayor of the village of Cheshnegirovo, said that the hail lasted for 20 minutes, and for 17 minutes there was a ban to launch hail-suppression rockets because of an overflying plane.

Zdravkov said that the people are not protected and that their livelihood has been destroyed.  They have to start from scratch and they haven’t received compensation for crops destroyed last year.

The Hail Suppression Agency said that over 280 rockets were launched in the region of Plovdiv on Tuesday.

Speaking after Wednesday's weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers, Agriculture Minister Ivan Ivanov said, quoted by the Government Information Service, that farmers whose produce was damaged by the hailstorms will receive compensations in the shortest time possible. 

Ivanov said that this year, the State Agriculture Fund has five million leva to pay in compensations for failed crops under state aid for farmers affected by natural disasters.