Agriculture and Food Minister Nihat Kabil praised the progress made by Bulgarian agriculture since accession to the European Union in his welcoming address to participants in the Agra fair that opened on February 19 2008 in Plovdiv.

“Bulgarian agriculture is making headway. It is developing in a new, more active business environment after Bulgaria’s EU accession,” Kabil said, as quoted by Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

In the first two months of 2008, Bulgarian farmers received more than 400 million leva in state and EU aid, and the figure would reach 1.5 billion leva by the end of the year, he said.

However, he refused to acquiesce to the demands for more funding, including by dairy producers, who want the year-round state subsidies hiked further.

Bulgaria’s EU accession agreement did not allow such increase in the subsidies, he said, as quoted by Focus news agency. The ministry had, however, sent an inquiry to the EU and was still waiting for a permission to make the payments.

The exhibition in Plovdiv will be open until February 23 2008. More than 800 companies from 40 countries were participating, including 454 foreign firms.