May 3, 2011

Bulgaria disburses subsidies to grain producers

Bulgaria's State Agriculture Fund (SAF) has paid out the bulk of the subsidies to local farmers per hectare of arable land just before the expiry of the deadline set in an agreement with protesting grain manufacturers last month.

The money has been paid to 91,213 farmers in Bulgaria who applied for direct subsidies last year. Still, there are about 500 agricultural producers whose subsidies have not been disbursed yet, as they are subject to investigation over violation concerns, the agricultural ministry said.

SAF has paid out about BGN550 million (US$416 million) in EU aid to farmers and a further BGN212 million (US$160) in national co-payments to direct subsidies, said the head of SAF, Angel Porozhanov.

The major share of the fund was disbursed to the municipalities of Pleven and Dobrich, which received between BGN50 million (US$37.8 million) and BGN83 million (US$62.8 million) each, while the lowest amounts were paid out to farmers in southwestern Bulgaria and the northwestern parts of the country.

The delay in EU fund disbursement this year was one of the reasons which made local grain producers organise nationwide protests earlier this year. Bulgaria's Prime Minister then pledged to dismiss Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, if the subsidies were not transferred by April 30.