Bulgarian Farmers to Seek Help for Nitrates until 2013

Bulgarian breeders will be able to apply with projects under the nitrates directive until 2013, the Agriculture Ministry has announced.

“The current deadline for applying for the rural development program was December 2010. However, the European Commission has authorized extension of the deadline,” the statement from the ministry said.

Investments under the nitrates directive are intended to limit water pollution with nitrates emitted by livestock and crop production. The directive is applied mandatory in 70 Bulgarian municipalities which are considered vulnerable and fall within the program for reducing pollution.

Farms in these municipalities should provide various facilities for disposal of waste water.

Bulgarian farmers will be supported under a program for rural areas which has a provided budget for such investments.

Under the nitrate directive, farmers will be able to adopt about EUR 70 M with the maximum funding for individual projects is 85% of their value.

However, despite the high percentage of support, this type of investment is unattractive for Bulgarian farmers. The Bulgarian Agriculture Fund has stated they have received less than 300 projects.

In June, the fund began to accept again projects for rural areas. In the first months of 2010, the acceptance of documents have been stopped gradually, in order for the 11 000 requests for funding to be processed.

The Bulgarian Agriculture Fund has stated that as of June, nearly 10 000 requests have been processed. The institution plans to process the rest by September, in parallel with the newly submitted requests.

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