site.btaFarmers Urges Government to Ensure Blue Tongue Shots before February 15, Threaten Protests

Farmers Urges Government to Ensure Blue Tongue Shots before February 15, Threaten Protests

Sofia, January 28 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency needs
to made sure blue tongue shots are available before
mid-February or else farmers will stage protests. This
transpired Wednesday at a news conference held by dairy and meat
farmers who said that blue tongue vaccination works when done
before February 15 and missing the deadline will be the demise
of animal husbandry in Bulgaria. "It is on the brink of survival
anyway," said Tancho Kolev, President of the National
Association of Meat and Dairy Producers.

The government has had to pay over 1 million leva in
compensations for the death of almost 8,000 sheep, hundreds of
goats and tens of cattle killed by a blue tongue outbreak last
year. Much of the loss was due to a failed vaccination campaign.


It transpired at the news briefing that there is a problem with
the procurement of the vaccine this year as well because only
one EU company has the right, technically and legally, to supply
the vaccine. However, five companies have been invited to a
public procurement tender.

Georgi Enchev of a Spanish company which is licensed to import a
blue tongue vaccine and is invited to the tender, the procedure
has been compromised and the Food Safety Agency should take the
responsibility for it.

Farmers blame the delay in the supply of the vaccine on "the
struggles about who will import it and collect the cut".

They also say that blue tongue vaccines are much more expensive
here than elsewhere in the EU.

Farmers said they "have to time to wait for the Food Safety
Agency's games" and threatened to protest unless they get an
answer by February 4.

Livestock breeders also urged the competent authorities to allow
the export of lambs for Turkey and accused them of keeping a
secret the interest of the Turkish side in importing Bulgarian
lams and blocking the clearance procedures. They are asking for
a meeting with the competent ministers in the Turkish government
to discuss urgent export of live lambs. They are already
negotiating directly with Turkish partners but the procedure is
slow and takes as long as 40-50 days.

They said that the price at which Turkey buys Bulgarian mutton
is 1 euro/kg higher than elsewhere

From 2010 to 2012, Bulgaria used to export close to 20,000 lambs
to Turkey and is now about to lose an 80 million market the way
it happened with Bulgarian cheese, farmers say.