site.btaState Has Few Options to Help Cherry Growers against Low Purchase Price - Minister

State Has Few Options to Help Cherry Growers against Low Purchase Price - Minister 

Kyustendil/Letnitsa, Southwestern Bulgaria, July 3 (BTA) - A day
 after cherry growers from Kyustendil protested in front of the
City Hall there against the low purchase price of the fruit,
Bulgaria's Agriculture and Food Minister Dessislava Taneva said
the State cannot do much and can only support them in crisis
conditions, i.e. by the so-called de minimis aid.

"There is no way we can either determine the minimum purchase
price or find a market by administrative means. These are joint
efforts of the producers who should associate to achieve an
easier and more direct market access," the Minister said.

The Government will consider all opportunities for State support
 but will not compensate the reduced earnings in any way. Taneva
 blamed the situation on the Russian embargo. "The situation in
the dairy sector is the same, part of the results of the Russian
 embargo," she told journalists during a visit to Letnitsa.

According to the Agriculture Minister, 75 per cent of the cherry
 exports were destined for Russia.

Mayors of villages in the municipality with large cherry
orchards also took part in Thursday's protest in Kyustendil.
  
The purchase price is currently 0.60 leva/kg and is below the
prime cost of the produce. According to protestors, after paying
 the costs of the tending the trees, plant protection and the
wages paid to pickers, nothing is left for the growers
themselves.

Bulgaria produces about 37,000 tonnes of cherries annually, and
over 15 per cent of this quantity comes from Kyustendil Region.

This year growers are threatening to leave the fruit unpicked.
"We will gather enough to distil some brandy and will leave the
rest to rot. There's no point in picking," they argued.
        
The solution is to establish a cherry growers' association as
soon as possible. The State, too, has been approached for
offsetting action, Kyustendil Mayor Peter Paunov said. He
insists on urgent extraordinary measures to help cherry growers
cut the losses they sustain as a result of the ban on export to
Russia and proposes compensation of 250 euro per tonne.
      
"I have been dealing with this for 11 years. Every year there
are problems during the cherry harvest, but this year they are
particularly serious because of the embargo," said Ivailo
Borissov. He added that the foundations for establishing a
cherry growers' association in the region were laid on Friday.

In an article about the cherry production crisis,
www.mediapool.bg writes that while growers build up losses and
leave the cherries unpicked, the three Santorelle brothers of
Italy, who have monopolized the purchase of cherries for canning
 in the region, post growing profits. As a result of this
monopoly, the prices paid to growers have fallen to 0.50-0.70
leva/kg since 2009, but Bulgaria became a world power in the
export of cherries. According to World Trade Organization
figures, in 2013 and 2014 Bulgaria was the world's second
largest exporter of canned cherries, www.mediapool.bg writes.