In s. Smilyan was held a regular meeting of the Business Council in the Agro - Food Sector

On 25.03.2023 at 10:30 a.m. in the hall of the community center "Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov 1927", s. Smilyan was held a regular meeting of the Business Council in the Agri-food sector in the border regions of Blagoevgrad, Haskovo, Kardzhali and Smolyan, the activity is implemented under the project "Business Council - BC 6275" funded by the INTERREG V/A GREECE-BULGARIA 2014-2020, Subsidy contract № B6.3a.18/13.04.2021.

The meeting was attended by five representatives of the sector from the border regions of Haskovo, Kardzhali, Blagoevgrad and Smolyan. The meeting room was technically equipped with multimedia, laptop, printer, as well as information boards, banner and presentation materials according to the requirements of the Communication and Publicity Manual of the Interreg V/A Greece-Bulgaria 2014-2020 Programme. In addition, disinfectants as well as water, coffee and tea were provided to secure the coffee break of the event.

The moderator of the event welcomed all attendees and kicked off the event by making a brief presentation of the Rules of Procedure of the BS in the Agro - Food Sector.

The topic of the current discussion was the cultivation of mung beans in the area. The main livelihood of the people of the settlements along the upper reaches of the Arda River, bean cultivation has a tradition that has remained unchanged for more than 250 years. Unfortunately, it is a family tradition and the cultivation of Smiljan beans is still carried out by small farms and on small areas - production is far from sufficient to meet demand.

A member of the audience shared with the project management team that they have been facing a lot of difficulties in the last few years, starting with the change in weather conditions. For a good harvest, it is necessary to maintain the balance between temperature and humidity. In the last few years, as a result of global warming, deviations in crop quality have been noticed. This, together with the Kovid 19 pandemic and the depopulation of the area, are factors that seriously threaten the traditional cultivation of mung beans from extinction.

Many of the participants were of the opinion that as a product with a protected designation, which promotes our country, the state needs to be more actively involved and support the sector more. In this regard, it is necessary to establish adequate legal and regulatory measures to prevent fraud and abuse of the protected designation of beans.

In relation to the above, the project team shared their experiences from previous Agri-Food Business Council meetings and briefly told the attendees how they could insure their crops. The team explained about the not very favourable conditions that insurance companies give to producers, after all it is some compensation for unrealised costs.

The Council decided, together with the project management team, to put forward their ideas to local authority representatives.