European Union agriculture ministers decided to extend until 2012 the deadline for cow farm modernisation in Bulgaria to bring milk production in line with European standards.

The original transition period ran until December 2009, marking the end of a three-year period as part of Bulgaria’s accession commitments.

However, a lack of an adequate incentive mechanism, the former agriculture ministry administration coupled with a worsening decline in stockbreeding left more than 83 000 still not up to the standards.

The new administration of the agriculture ministry plans to apply for technical assistance to help farmers comply with European requirements through special coaching. A paltry 3000 farms have so far met the criteria and supply quality milk to dairies.

Bulgaria has also submitted a request to be allowed to tap European funding to buy out milk quotas that have not been fulfilled by producers.

Two years ago, the ministry handed out to farmers annual quotas of milk they can sell to dairies. The national quota of 947 000 tons was gradually increased to more than a million tons, but the crisis left many farmers unable to fulfill their assigned volumes. Seeking to safeguard funding for unsold quotas, the Bulgarian Government put forward a mechanism of purchasing unused quotas.

The proposal got the go-ahead by the agriculture ministries of EU members but will come into effect only after the farming ministry has developed the mechanism.

Another option on the table is compensating Bulgarian producers through European market mechanisms for the purchase of butter and other dairy products.

Source: Dnevnik.bg