Ivan Kaburov, BAPOP and Desislava Kaburova, winner of the award “Best project for the improvement of rural areas”
In the month of January, it is not profitable to grow vegetables and more than 95% of the greenhouses in Bulgaria are currently empty. Stricter rules are needed to ensure traceability of agricultural produce. This was said by Ivan Kaburov, the Bulgarian Association of Greenhouse Producers, who was a guest together with Desislava Kaburova, winner of the “Best Project for the Improvement of Rural Areas” award at the Eighth Congress of Young Farmers in Brussels, in the program “Business Start” on Bloomberg TV Bulgaria with host Hristo Nikolov.
The reason for the low profitability of Bulgarian agricultural production is “unregulated imports from Turkey and Albania”, Kaburov explained. “A large part of the vegetables are treated with preparations prohibited by the EU. The control that is implemented is not enough to stop this production. The problems that grain producers have in the last four or five months as a result of the import of Ukrainian wheat and corn and have led to the bankruptcy of many grain producers, have plagued the vegetable and fruit production sector for over 20 years now”.
In order for Bulgarian agriculture to be more sustainable, the state should support vegetable producers, for example by removing VAT on production for a period of two years. This is the only way the Bulgarian vegetable production sector can be more sustainable and more competitive with imported products and those who sell without documents, the farmer also said.
“The sector should be exempt from VAT for at least two years to lighten up. The next two years to gradually introduce the rate back to recover the loss in the budget. The effect will be that there will be many more registered companies, many more VAT. Because we, the producers who are registered for VAT, do not have an equal start. Thousands of tons of production are sold without VAT and this is killing us”.
Farmers find it difficult to navigate the national and European support programs and the state needs to organize more explanatory seminars in order to adapt to the new situation and work properly, the interlocutor emphasized.
The project with which I won the award “Best project for the improvement of rural areas” at the Eighth Congress of Young Farmers in Brussels is for hydroponic vegetable cultivation, Desislava Kaburova shared. “It gives me strength that I love my job, and a big priority is that our business is family.” She added that “only agriculture will get us out of the crisis”:
“Let there be money for other sectors as well, but there must be support for farmers to introduce new technologies and move forward.”
“Greenhouses are not just an agricultural business, but a social policy that we are developing because it provides comprehensive, year-round employment for low-skilled labor. This gives them the opportunity to adapt to the environment, and not be on social assistance,” added Kaburov.
A source: https://www.bloombergtv.bg
