AGRICULTURE Minister Nihat Kabil and Finance Minister Milen Velchev signed on April 14 the 2004 annual financial agreement under the European Union’s SAPARD programme for a total amount of more than 67.5 million euro.
The funds are meant to encourage the further development of Bulgarian agriculture. The co-financing provided by the Bulgarian state adds up to 22.5 million euro. The EU financial commitment under the agreement is valid until December 31, 2006.
Dimitris Kourkoulas, head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria, said that the SAPARD programme would end in 2006, meaning it was very important to set up by that time the SAPARD payment agency that is to be in charge of using and distributing EU funds designed for agriculture.
If the administration fails to take the necessary steps, it could mean major losses for the country, he said.
The fact that the funds lent under this agreement exceed by about 10 million euro those allocated for 2003, showed that the country had fulfilled its obligations under the programme, Velchev said.
Solid results were reported for the SAPARD programme, Kabil said. A total of 1909 projects of investment value of more than 1.5 billion leva had been approved since the programme’s launch in June 2001. Funds of 145 million euro had been approved in the past year alone. This exceeded the value of two annual financial accords, Kabil said.
So far, agreements have been signed for 100 per cent of the funds allocated for 2002 and 2003. A hundred per cent of the funds for 2000 and 2001 and 25 per cent of the funds for 2002 have been paid. This meant that a new financial resource was needed, Kabil said.
The funds under the 2004 agreement and those envisaged for 2005 and 2006 would not cover the needs due to the exceptionally high interest towards the programme, Kabil said.
Steps have been taken to provide an additional 100 million euro under the SAPARD programme.
Meanwhile Deputy Agriculture Minister Byurhan Abazov said EU aid for Bulgarian farmers in the first three years of the country’s membership was projected at about 1.5 billion euro.
EU and national subsidies will be available only to registered farmers, he said. However, only 60 000 of an estimated total of 400 000 farmers in this country are registered at present, according to Agriculture Ministry figures.
Just a quarter of the country’s farm land is tilled under valid land use contracts. Abazov expects that the mandatory condition of registration for receiving subsidies will lead to the legalisation of much of what he calls the “shadow” farming sector.
The registration system is much simpler than the formalities required under SAPARD. Registration requires no security for repayment and will cost nothing to farmers.
By 2007, when the country expects to join the EU, the state should set land size limits for eligible recipients of EU aid. In most European countries, the threshold is one hectare of arable land, and if the same level is adopted in Bulgaria, potential beneficiaries in the country will total 150 000.
EU subsidies will be handled by a Payments and Intervention Agency, which is being put together and is likely to start functioning by January 1, 2007. The Agriculture Ministry is developing computer software for the purposes of that agency, based on some modules of an information system in Austria and an EU Phare design project.

– Business Staff