The European Commission has announced a package of emergency measures to support the agricultural market in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic, which should be adopted by April 30.

The proposed measures are aimed at stabilizing markets and ensuring the sustainability of future prices and production. The measures are in support of the most affected agricultural and food sectors and are aimed at addressing disturbances already observed and future risks, the Agriculture Ministry press center said.

Assistance in storing milk and meat

The new EC package includes support measures for private storage in the milk and meat sector.

Dairy products eligible for private storage are skimmed milk powder, butter, and cheese. The maximum amount of cheese allowed for storage in Bulgaria for a storage period between 90 and 180 days is 889 tonnes, which is 22% more than the quota in 2016.

Our country has experience in implementing such an extraordinary aid scheme, and in 2016, 36% of our predetermined maximum amount of stored cheeses was absorbed. It is important to emphasize that the amount of support includes both fixed storage costs of 15.57 EUR per tonne of production and 0.40 EUR per tonne per day for the duration of the contracts.

In the meat sector, private storage aid may be granted for bovine meat (animals over 8 months of age) and sheep and goat meat for 90 to 150 days. One application may apply for the private storage of at least 15 tonnes of meat.

Private storage will not be able to meet the needs of the dairy and meat sector in our country, which is characterized by small-scale farms, but at the EU level, it will lead to a reduction in supply and long-term recovery of the market balance.

It is envisaged to allow voluntary agreements and decisions to plan and reduce production in the dairy sector by farmers, their organizations, and associations in view of changing demand patterns during this period of severe market imbalance.

The authorization will be provisional for the next six months. Considering the specificity of the sector in our country, which is reflected in the low degree of organization and the intermediary role of producer organizations, we expect such a measure to not arouse interest in Bulgaria.

New recommendations for winemakers

The wine sector envisages a twelve-month extension of the grubbing-up and planting permits that expire this year.

Flexibility is also envisaged for measures under national support programs in the wine sector, such as allowing beneficiaries to submit changes to ongoing contracted activities within the initially approved amount of eligible aid.

Measured distillation of wine in the event of a crisis is eligible for support and the alcohol obtained will only be used for industrial purposes. Partial assistance is also provided for the storage of wine in crises. Under both measures (distillation and storage), the amount of aid is fixed by the Member State at a maximum of 0.8 EUR/%vol/hl.

It is envisaged that the aid under the measure “Restructuring and conversion of vineyards” will be increased to 80% of the costs incurred (currently 75%). Under the Investment measure, the aid may be increased from 50 to 60%.

Bulgaria continues to insist that it be allowed to use unspent funds for targeted assistance. The Agrarian Ministry believes that an appropriate solution may be the possibility of transferring unspent funds to the next financial year.

Derogation for the sale of fruit and vegetables

The fruit and vegetable sectors may cover the costs of producer organizations for operations planned but not carried out by December 31, 2020, if carried out by October 1, 2021.

By way of derogation, members of producer organizations may be allowed to sell up to 40% of the products made on their own, as opposed to the regular requirement of up to 25%.

In 2020, the maximum percentage of voting rights and shares or capital may exceed 50% of the total voting rights and 50% of the shares or capital of producer organizations. In addition, they may be allowed to terminate their operational programs in whole or in part by 2020. Payment of aid to producer organizations shall not be suspended in the event of non-compliance with the recognition criteria.

There are 19 recognized fruit and vegetable producer organizations in Bulgaria with a total of 155 members. However, only three producer organizations with a total of 18 members implement operational programs.

Change in beekeeping programs

In the beekeeping sector, Member States are envisaged to amend their beekeeping programs, with measures planned for the beekeeping year 2020 to be implemented after July 31, 2020, but no later than September 15, 2020.

These measures will be considered as implemented in the beekeeping year 2020. The amendments are subject to approval by the EC before their implementation.

The extension of the program activities will enable the beekeepers to implement the planned activities for the approved projects and hence the fuller utilization of the budget for 2020, even more, so that the funds cannot be transferred to the next beekeeping year.