site.btaAgriculture Sector Can Expect Serious Support, Control in Coming Months, Minister Ivanov Says

There are BGN 3.4 billion set aside for agriculture this year that will be in farmers’ accounts by the end of 2022, outgoing Agriculture, Food and Forestry Minister Ivan Ivanov said on Nova TV on Saturday. The coming months will see serious support for the sector, with BGN 600 million to be paid to farmers by October, particularly in sensitive sectors such as fruit and vegetable growing. There will also be serious control, he underscored.

Over 1,400 inspections have been carried out in the stock-breeding sector alone. In 30% of the cases grave violations have been established, most often related to missing animals. “We are making no compromises, and many irregularities have already been referred to the prosecution service,” Ivanov noted.

He said that some 1,100 ha of forests have been affected by the recent fires in Bulgaria. 

The wheat harvest is similar to last year’s and the harvesting is nearly complete, he also said. Bulgaria has around 6.5 million tonnes of wheat out of over 1, 200,000 ha of sown fields. There is no risk of grain shortage, Bulgaria is even expected to export grain. Just some 6,000 tonnes of grain have been imported here from Ukraine, which is negligible compared to the produced quantity, he told Nova TV.