site.btaFood Ministry Drafting Bill Covering Every Level of Agrifood Chain to Protect Farmers

The Agriculture and Food Ministry is drafting a bill that will cover all levels of the agrifood chain to protect agricultural producers and farmers and ensure they get a fair price for their produce, Minister Georgi Tahov said on bTV on Sunday. He added that he does not wish to violation the rights of all operators along the chain.

Asked when this bill would come into force, Minister Tahov said the Ministry of Agriculture and Food would try to have it in place within a month, before which extensive consultations would be held with industry organisations to ensure that all interested parties were heard. It is very different from the bills being drafted by BSP - United Left and Vazrazhdane, he specified. "We do not want to interfere with the principles of the market economy. We want, through the protection of the rights of producers, who are also suppliers, to guarantee a reduction in prices that will be felt by all of us," Minister Tahov explained.

Asked whether this would create political tension in the ruling coalition, he clarified that things should not come down to emotions. "We will explain it very honestly. We want things to be done properly and sensibly. There is no way that in 2025 we will change the principle of free trade in the EU," the Minister said.

He said the State could not forcibly remove the fees that big chains charge farmers to sell their goods. "Through the agrifood chain bill, we will ask through the contractual relations that are concluded that the farmer decides whether he wants to pay this fee or not and that it does not prevent him from working with a chain," the Minister said.

The Minister cited statistics for 2024 showing 136 tonnes of food were destroyed and confiscated. Most often, these foods were beyond their expiry date, sold to unregulated outlets, and foods that did not have a clear indication on the label of what ingredients they contained.

Commenting on the February 13 boycott of major supermarket chains across Bulgaria by consumers over the high food prices, Tahov said he support civil society events and his own family did not shop that day. However, that is not the long-term solution, he underscored.