site.btaAgriculture Minister Expects New Protests over Build-up of Problems

Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev Thursday said he expected more farmers' protests because "the problems which have built up over the years cannot be solved through financial support alone". Irrigation, which has been sabotaged for over 10 years, is a case in point, he told a conference held as part of the Agra International Agricultural Exhibition in Plovdiv.

The forum focuses on problems of the food industry arising from the requirements of EU and Bulgarian legislation.

"What we are rescuing should feed the country, rather than the country feeding it to survive," Vatev said. He stressed that it is not the farmers who are to blame for this paradox, it is the "avalanche of problems of the last 30 years, which has the potential to crush the entire agriculture and food industry".

"The green deal is great but it is too ambitious and it started before alternatives were in place to everything banned - plant protection products and fertilizers," Vatev said. As a result, farmers all over Europe are protesting, Vatev said, adding that "the requirements of the green deal are compounded by unfair competition through imports from third countries".

Farmers elsewhere in Europe are protesting about things taken away from them, while in Bulgaria they are demanding larger financial support, said the Minister, who believes this is a partial short-term solution.