site.btaFruit and Vegetable Branch Chamber Supports Stricter Rules for Permanent Crop Plots

The Fruit and Vegetable Branch Chamber supports the introduction of a minimum requirement for the percentage of plants in orchards and permanent crops to curb fictitious plots and target aid to real producers. The Chamber has sent to caretaker Agriculture and Food Minister Ivan Hristanov its position on a draft amendment to an ordinance of 2023, concerning the conditions and procedures for implementing interventions in the form of direct payments. 

The organization insists that the rule also apply to vegetable interventions, including greenhouse production, to ensure fairness and more effective control over subsidies. According to the Chamber, the requirement that at least 70% of plants in declared plots for fruit-related direct payments must be available (not dried out) is a step in the right direction.

At the same time, the Chamber opposes exemptions from the requirement for perennial medicinal, aromatic and berry crops, and stresses that it should cover vegetable aid as well, to identify fake vegetable gardens and greenhouses, ensuring equal treatment of fruit and vegetable producers.