Grain production is in collapse, Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber says

All political forces had promised funding for farmers in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They had announced their readiness to submit the proposals between the first and second reading of the State Budget Law, but during the vote, some discrepancy occurred, a political game was played and the funds were not voted and that state aid was not included in the 2024 State Budget Act, Kostadin Kostadinov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber, said in the studio of "The Day Begins" programme on January 16.

"What was promised? Those 442 million BGN we requested from the Ukrainian aid were for all vulnerable sectors, excluding grain production. At the meeting of the National Grain Producers Association's Board of Directors, a declaration was adopted to include grain growers, because they have not received anything so far over the years."

According to him, liberalization of all Ukrainian imports is about to take place and this will affect not only Bulgaria, but all European countries, with protests currently staged in Germany, Poland, Greece, Lithuania, Romania. According to Kostadinov, these protests were in reaction to the failure of the Green Deal and the European Commission's inability to finance the goals it has set itself.

"With the demands they put on all European producers and the freedom that Ukrainian producers have, we cannot cannot survive the competition of cheap Ukrainian grain," Kostadinov stressed.

He said grain production is the sector that carries agriculture "on its back", and the sector is currently in collapse because of the pressure of Ukrainian grain.

"In many regions of the country there are artificially inflated rental rates (for the farm land). In many countries this is regulated, with rental rates being set on an income-expenditure basis. In France it is regulated by the municipalities. In Bulgaria the rent is the biggest expense."

Grain farmers demand meeting with the government over problems in the sector