site.btaAgricultural Producers Demanding Minister's Resignation to Stage Protest in Sofia

Organizations of agricultural producers will hold a protest march in Sofia on Thursday morning demanding the resignation of Agriculture and Food Minister Kiril Vatev. The protest was announced Tuesday by six organizations of stockbreeders, of buffalo breeders, of women farmers and of greenhouse growers.

Dimitar Zorov, who heads the National Union of Cattle Breeders in Bulgaria, told a BTA-hosted news conference on Tuesday that agriculture was headed for collapse. He said the main problem for large-scale farmers is the overdue payment of compensation for damage inflicted by the war in Ukraine.

Zorov said the march and the protest were lawful and had been cleared with the Interior Ministry.

For his part, the Agriculture Minister Tuesday said all payments had been made as agreed on September 20 during a farmers' protest prompted by Parliament's decision to lift a ban on Ukrainian agricultural imports. Vatev called on the farmers "to come down to earth and increase their productivity". He added that he wanted to see the protesters' market shares, adding that "it all boils down to demands for money".