Bulgarian grain farmers prepare for protests

The Association of Grain Producers begins preparations for effective protests next week, the chairman of the branch organization, Iliya Prodanov, said on January 31.

Going out to protest depends on whether the Finance Ministry by the end of this week will find the necessary 500 million BGN for the so-called Ukrainian aid for the sector.

Despite the initial demand for 20 BGN per decare for all grain farmers, they are willing to agree to the Ministry of Agriculture's proposal for a modulated rate, Prodanov says.

"Up to 10,000 decares should get 20 BGN per decar.e From 10 to 20,000 decares, farms should receive 20 BGN for the first 10,000 and 10 BGN for the next 10,000, and farms over 20,000 decares should receive only 20 BGN for their areas up to 10,000 decares, from 10 to 20,000 decares - 10 BGN, and no support for areas over 20,000 decares."

However, this would require some BGN 500 million, which the Ministry of Finance would have to find because it is not budgeted. That is why today the Board of Directors of the association decided:

"We start organising effective protest actions for next week from Tuesday onwards", Prodanov specified.

Today the grain farmers are waiting for confirmation from Prime Minister Denkov's office whether their next meeting will take place on Friday or Saturday, which will be the last one and it depends on it whether the tractors will go on the roads.

"We are very close to having no protests at all and to having a lot of mass protests, so the difference is borderline," Prodanov said.

Source: BNR