site.btaSmall Ruminant Farmers Demand Radical Change of State Agriculture Policy

Sofia, July 25 (BTA) - Bulgarian sheep and goat farmers are insisting on a radical change in the state agricultural policy, as well as on a strategy for the development and unification of the branch. Bulgaria has not had an agrarian policy for years and small- and medium-sized producers are not protected, the Executive Director of the National Sheep and Goat Farming Association, Prof. Ivan Stankov, told a BTA-hosted news conference Wednesday.

Urgent state measures are also necessary to prevent another ovine rinderpest outbreak among the animals in Strandzha (Southeastern Bulgaria), said Yordan Trifonov whose flock was euthanized because of the disease. He added that a buffer zone should be developed between Bulgaria and Turkey.

The protests are not political as the previous ones that were held at the time of the caretaker government, but the demands have been the same for a year and a half, the Co-Chairman of the Association, Simeon Karakolev, underscored. In his words, Article 23 of the draft revisions to the Ordinance on the Conditions and Procedure to Apply Direct Payment Schemes is discriminatory. He also insisted that all sheep and goat farmers should operate under identical rules. The draft is open for public discussion until August 22.

The association has 1,750 members with nearly 230,000 animals, Karakolev said.