Grape growers demanded direct payments to keep vineyards in Bulgaria

The areas with vineyards are decreasing in Bulgaria. From 2012 to 2020, nearly 140,000 decares have disappeared. Grape growers believe that the industry is in deep decline. And this can be seen quite clearly in comparison with the historical data, according to which after the liberation from the Ottoman yoke the areas with vineyards in our country were 1.6 million decares. It is this negative trend and the question of how to address it was the main topic of an operational meeting for the upcoming harvest, which was held today at the Agricultural University in Plovdiv. The representatives of the wine industry were met by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Yavor Gechev, the Director of the Executive Agency for Vine and Wine Krassimir Koev and the Chairman of the National Vine and Wine Chamber Yordan Chorbadjiiski. At the beginning of the forum Krassimir Koev announced some data on viticulture in Bulgaria. The areas with vineyards in 2020 are 60,162 ha, and the wine enterprises are ...