site.btaAgricultural Land Owners’ Association Opposes Calls for Resignations, Protests and Pressure on Agriculture Ministry Leadership

The Bulgarian Association of Agricultural Land Owners (BAALO) firmly opposes any attempts of interference in the personnel policy and management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, as well as the practice of pushing for legislative changes through pressure, protests and threats, the organization said in a position statement received by BTA on Tuesday. 

The statement comes in response to the National Association of Grain Producers (NAGP), which on October 9 announced plans to stage protests nationwide, withdrawing its confidence in the Ministry’s leadership and calling for the resignations of Agriculture Minister Georgi Tahov, Deputy Minister Ivan Kapitanov, and Petya Slavcheva, Deputy Executive Director of the State Fund Agriculture, citing unfulfilled commitments and a lack of political will to address problems in the sector. 

The BAALO stressed that dialogue with institutions is the only constructive path to solving the problems in the agriculture sector, while attempts at political pressure undermine trust and damage institutional stability.

BAALO Chair Evgeniy Orashakov said that any effort to achieve political goals through the use of the non-governmental sector and business compromises confidence in the sector and leads to disastrous consequences. “Such attempts, including protests and public threats, have been made repeatedly over the years and we have always considered them unacceptable,” he said.

According to the statement, Bulgarian agriculture generates between ten and thirty times less gross added value per unit area than other EU Member States, which calls for long-term solutions rather than personal conflicts. “In a situation of consecutive crises, epidemiological, economic and geopolitical, creating institutional turbulence is highly counterproductive and could further aggravate the sector’s difficulties,” the position read.

The statement has been addressed to Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Food and Forestry Tsveta Karayancheva, and Agriculture Minister Tahov.

On October 9, the National Sheep and Goat Breeders Association (NSGBA) said that it had lost confidence in the leadership of the Agriculture Ministry and the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (DFSA). The NSGBA claimed that after months of inaction, delays and contradictory messages to farmers regarding the control of the sheep and goat pox outbreak, the State, represented by Minister Georgi Tahov and BFSA Executive Director Svetlozar Patarinski, was misleading the government, Parliament, the public and, above all, farmers. The organisation declared itself in protest readiness.

Later on October 9, eight agricultural producer organizations have voiced their firm support for Agriculture and Food Minister Georgi Tahov, according to an open letter received by BTA. The signatories included the Fruit and Vegetable Branch Chamber, the Bulgarian Association of Raspberry and Berry Growers, the Bulgarian Greenhouse Growers' Association, the Bulgarian National Tobacco Growers' Association-2010, the Bulgarian Rice Association, the Bulgarian National Association Essential oils, Perfumery and Cosmetics, National Organic Association, and the National Association of Nut Producers and Processors in Bulgaria. The organizations said that the calls for Tahov’s resignation, voiced by two other industry groups, lack professional justification and are driven by self-serving motives and personal interests.

On October 10, a protest under the slogan “In Defence and Support of Bulgarian Production!” took place in front of the European Commission Representation (House of Europe) in Sofia. Ventsislav Varbanov, Chair of the Bulgarian Association of Agricultural Producers, said the protest was aimed at preserving Bulgarian production, however limited, and preventing any restrictions that could lead to market losses or force farmers out of business. He added that participants were also there to show their support for Minister Tahov and his team.