site.btaGrain Producers Association Cricizes Incompetent Decision Makers in Agriculture

National Grain Producers Association (NGPA) Chairman Iliya Prodanov Wednesday said agriculture is in dire straits because incompetent people make decisions concerning the whole sector. He gave a news conference at the BTA National Press Club in Dobrich, prompted by the Association's demand for the resignation of Deputy Agriculture Minister Tanya Georgieva and the delayed payment of a second tranche of aid to support the liquidity of farmers to overcome the negative economic impact of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Prodanov said a demand that Georgieva be called to account had been spelled out in a declaration to the President, the Prime Minister and the Agriculture Minister, and if none of them responds, the NGPA will ask to meet with the Prime Minister.

The declaration sent on July 17 called for Georgieva's resignation on account of: a loss of BGN 100 million in investments in effective water management in farms under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan; a failure to take into account the producers' intentions to invest in irrigation; incompetent budgeting; a failure to call for proposals under the CAP Strategic Plan for Agriculture and Rural Development, which left farmers without support for investment in times of difficult market and weather conditions; and a lack of communication with agricultural producers.

Producers expect a budget update to allocate money for the second instalment as agreed, Prodanov said, referring to BGN 300 million which has been due for payment since last September but farmers do not have guarantees that it will be paid. "We are in a situation where we did not receive the expected revenues due to the weather and low prices on the international markets. When we do not get the state funding as stipulated in the agreement, the problem becomes serious," he said. While there are not too many bankrupt farms yet, the number of farms sold is telling. In one region alone, 26 farms have been sold to a single owner in the last six months. A consolidation of holdings is under way, not because people do not want to work but because they cannot cope financially. He also said family farms were the most at risk.

The demand for Georgieva's resignation reflects the interests not just of grain producers but of most of the agricultural sector, the main reason being responsibility. Prodanov claimed that the actions or inaction of the Deputy Minister responsible for rural development and direct payments had caused a detriment to agriculture as a whole.

If the producers' demands are not met, a protest will be staged which will close the whole of Bulgaria as decided a year ago, said Georgi Milev, member of the NGPA Governing Board and head of the Association's chapter in the northern town of Pleven.