site.bta Bulgarian-Swiss Organic Farming Project for Close to Mln 5 CFr Implemented in Bulgaria

Bulgarian-Swiss Organic Farming Project for Close to Mln 5 CFr  Implemented in Bulgaria


Sofia, January 14 (BTA) - The results of the "For the Balkan
Mountains and the People" project, which is valued at close to
five million Swiss franks, were presented on Wednesday in the
presence of Agriculture and Food Minister Dessislava Taneva and
Swiss Ambassador to Bulgaria Denis Knobel.

Four Swiss and six Bulgarian NGOs are partners in the project,
which is related to nature protection and organic farming. Their
 work is concentrated in the Western and Central Balkan
Mountains and aims to introduce good farming practices, on-site
processing and direct sales. Trainings, grant financial aid and
mobile consultations with small farmers are organized under the
project.

Farmers registered as direct sellers are producing organic
yoghurt, milk, sheep and cow cheeses, eggs, fish, honey, etc.
These products will soon reach end consumers via farmers markets
 in Sofia and across the country, as well as internet sales. In
addition to being of high quality and coming directly from the
producers, the products have value added - they help nature
preservation. The products come from clean land which is part of
 the Natura 2000 network, the project partners noted.

Some 245 million euro are provided under the agroecology
measures for the next 2014-2020 programming period, Taneva said.
 The new Rural Development Programme's main focus is precisely
organic farming, for which the budget is 30 per cent bigger
compared to the last programming period, the Minister noted.

Swiss expert Bertrand Sansonnens of Pro Natura noted that almost
 100 per cent of agricultural production in Switzerland is
organic and natural.