site.btaOrganic Farmers to Sell Products from Mobile Stalls in Sofia, Plovdiv

Sofia, August 7 (BTA) - Organic farmers will be able to sell their products in Sofia and Plovdiv from mobile vending units later this year. The For the Balkans and the People project will involve farmers from the western and central parts of the Balkan Range, BTA learned from project coordinator Stoilko Apostolov, Manager of the Bioselena Foundation.

Organic farmers from Berkovitsa, Georgi Damyanovo, Svoge, Godech, Troyan and Karlovo are involved in the project financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The project aims to help farmers register for milk and meat processing and sell these and other products in Sofia and Plovdiv.

Organic farmers have started selling products from stalls at Sofia's Rimska Stena and Ivan Vazov markets. However, no new organic markets will be opening for now because few farmers have been registered.

Apostolov said that farmers' markets in France, Switzerland and Germany take place on a street chosen on a certain day of the week when it is closed to traffic, only to be reopened when the market day is over.

Electricity will be provided for the farmers' visicoolers with small financing under the project. Farmers are expected to start selling their products from mobile stalls in the next four or five months, said Apostolov. Eight sites, mostly for milk products, are under construction and will be registered by November.