site.btaRecord BGN 4.4bn Paid to National Agriculture Sector in 2025

More than BGN 4.4 billion in support was paid to workers in Bulgaria’s agriculture sector in 2025 under schemes and interventions set by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the ministry said on Tuesday.

State Fund Agriculture (SFA) made the payments, which the ministry described as a one-year record, up from more than BGN 3.837 billion in 2024 and a little over BGN 3 billion in 2023.

The largest annual disbursement was made under direct payment interventions, amounting to nearly BGN 2.2 billion. Of this total, BGN 1.2 billion was paid in support of the 2024 campaign, while the remaining BGN 1.017 billion was disbursed for the 2025 campaign. For the first time, 28 direct payment interventions were processed and paid within the same year in which farmers submitted their applications for support. Also for the first time, all agri-environment-climate and organic interventions were paid in December of the application year, totalling nearly BGN 113 million (over BGN 73 million for organic farming and over BGN 40 million for agri-environment-climate measures).

Under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), SFA paid BGN 715 million through Basic income support for sustainability (BISS) and coupled support in the Livestock sector.

More than BGN 1.1 billion was transferred for agreed projects under sub-measures of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020.

At the start of the year, SFA began processing submitted projects under the Strategic Plan for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas 2023-2027. Since the end of last year, 25 funding calls were launched for rural development projects. More than 5,000 applications for support were filed; work on a significant share of them has already been completed, and more than BGN 187 million has been paid.

Nearly BGN 231 million was paid under signed contracts delivering investments under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). In the area of State aid and national payments, more than BGN 450 million in financial support was transferred.

In May, the government approved the annual report of SFA and the Paying Agency for 2024. The government press service said at the time that the total amount paid by SFA to farmers last year was BGN 3.670 billion.