site.btaBulgarian Agrarian Chamber Calls for Legislative Changes, Cooperation Incentives, Irrigation Solutions

The 2026 state budget poses a serious challenge for businesses in Bulgaria, including agriculture, said Ilia Prodanov, head of the National Association of Grain Producers and newly elected Chairman of the Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber (BAC). He was speaking at a BTA-hosted news conference in Sofia on Friday that presented changes in the BAC management and key issues in the sector.

The BAC has new deputy heads: the Co-chair of the National Sheep and Goat Breeding Association, Simeon Karakolev, and Dimitrichka Tarpanova from the Dobrudzha Fruit Growing Union. Prodanov said that their future actions will be aimed at fighting division, seeking not confrontation but solutions to the problems facing the agricultural sector.

In grain production, the main problems are legislation and irrigation, he noted. Serious reforms are needed in land relations because without stabilizing them to make them more long-term and predictable, there is no way for the sector to develop, Prodanov argued.

With regard to irrigation, the main problem facing farmers is the availability of water resources and their management, Prodanov specified. He commented that no matter how much you invest in irrigation, if there is no water, these investments cannot be used, so securing and legalizing access to water is of paramount importance.

Prodanov called for a law on branch representation so it would be clear how each sector is represented, because at present, anyone who establishes an organization only assumes the rights, but not the obligations.

Karakolev drew attention to cooperation, emphasizing that it is fashionable to talk about it, but there is no legislation, infrastructure, or sufficient incentives for it. He expressed hope that the Ministry of Agriculture and Food  would work in this direction and soon present the relevant bill.

Karakolev also mentioned another important issue for the sector he represents - goat and sheep pox. "We are currently at a plateau - last week there were three outbreaks, this week there are none, but this is the calm before the storm," he commented. According to him, Greece is currently at the peak of its third wave, with over 450,000 animals euthanized in a year and a half. According to Karakolev, the only way to stop the third wave in Bulgaria is through vaccination. It is better to compensate those who export products than to endlessly cull animals, he said.

Petko Simeonov, who represents the organization of producers in the beekeeping sector, pointed out that the situation has been extremely difficult for them over the past two years and that there are major structural problems. He believes that cooperation between individual producers is the only way to develop the sector, because otherwise it will not be able to continue to develop as a productive and competitive sector in line with global trends.