site.bta Former Agriculture Ministry Leadership Claims Agroecology Funds under Rural Development Programme Still Available

Former Agriculture Ministry Leadership Claims Agroecology Funds under Rural Development Programme
Still Available

Sofia, March 15 (BTA) - Financial resources under Measure 10 "Agroecology" of the Operational Programme Human Resources Development are still available and the acceptance of applications should urgently be resumed, the agriculture expert council of GERB said at a news conference Wednesday.

Caretaker Minister of Agriculture and Food Hristo Bouzoukov Wednesday declined to receive and did not allow former Agriculture Fund executive director Vassil Groudev to enter the building, the leadership of the ministry in Boyko Borissov's cabinet said. The meeting was scheduled for 9:00 am on Wednesday and was intended to clarify the differences between the information made public on Tuesday and to help the caretaker minister make the correct decision to promptly release payment of suspended fund to agricultural producers, former agriculture minister Dessislava Taneva said. The news conference was requested by farmers and in order to explain why the agroecology and organic farming measures should not have been suspended.

Taneva appealed to the incumbent ministry's leadership to avoid political wording because this is leads to stopping work, turnover and is detrimental to farmers. She said what is happening is a political cleanup at a time most relevant to the distribution of aid and subsidies to producers in the current farming year.

"The issue was intentionally inspired. It seems to me that sensational and political effect is sought so that in a week or two it could be said that a solution to the problem and the money have been found, which is sheer pre-election propaganda," Groudev commented in the wake of Tuesday's statement of Bouzoukov that the money under measures 10 and 11 has already been spent and this made it necessary to stop accepting applications under them.

The total budget under Measure 10, "Agroecology and Climate" for 2014-2020 amounts to 223,346,600 euro, including - 7.9 million euro paid for the ornithological habitats in 2015, Groudev said, thereby refuting Bouzoukov's thesis that "the geese ate the subsidies". Last year State Fund Agriculture suspended acceptance of applications under this measure in order to avoid spending more funds. To date the available 42.8 million euro are quite sufficient to avoid stopping acceptance of applications under the entire Measure 10, Groudev said.

As regards Measure 11 "Organic Farming", the former head of the Agriculture Fund explained that the budget is 151.5 million euro. So far, 14.7 million euro have been paid. An analysis should be made on the basis of undertaken commitments and whether there is an opportunity to accept new beneficiaries, he thinks. To date the shortage of funds under this measure is only 5.6 million euro, he pointed out.

Now the indicative schedule for direct payments is opened with a three-week delay compared to what had been planned, Groudev noted.

The fact that the head of the Forestry Executive Agency head, Tony Krustev, was relieved of his duties by the caretaker government is not reasonable, former deputy agriculture minister Georgi Kostov said. This is the person who introduced digital tracking of logged timber and who achieved high financial results in the sector. All investments programmes in the sector have been suspended now, including the most promising sector of logging, and there are large-scale changes of staff and dismissals.