Five sectoral agricultural organisations have demanded immediate payment of subsidies intended to offset the negative effects of imports of agricultural products from Ukraine, informs BNR reporter Veselina Milanova.

The angry farmers said that they would organise a protest march on Thursday from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Council of Ministers in Sofia, hoping that Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov would take note of their problems and demand the resignation of Agriculture and Food Minister Kiril Vatev. 

This was announced at a press conference at the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), organised by the branch organisations under the title "Against the destruction of our dairy farming and greenhouse vegetable production". According to them, financial support from the state is insufficient and Bulgarian livestock farming is in danger of extinction. In the last 10 months alone, 48 cattle farms have gone bankrupt and milk processing in the country has fallen by 13,000 tonnes in the last four months, according to livestock organisations. 

According to Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev, it is the big farmers who are protesting, and they receive the highest subsidies of all farmers, reports BNR reporter Veselina Milanova.