Water for irrigation becomes cheaper: What does the industry think?

After months of negotiations, tension, and disputes over the methodology for determining the price of irrigation water, agricultural producers will pay significantly lower tariffs in 2025 and 2026. The new prices – 0.025 BGN/cubic meter for gravity-fed and 0.038 BGN/cubic meter for pumped water – were approved these days by the outgoing Minister of Agriculture Georgi Tahkov and officially published by "Irrigation Systems" JSC. The news was welcomed with relief by the sector. Some of the most active participants in the process, including Bozhidar Petkov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Raspberry and Strawberry Producers (BAM-Y), described the change as a "serious achievement." "The match was played, but suddenly common sense prevailed." According to Petkov, for months the sector had been hearing that the prices could not be changed. Initially, he recalls, the announced tariffs were 0.025 BGN for gravity-fed and 0.30 BGN for pumped water, which opened a gap of over 1400% ...