The union of farmers will lead to efficiency and a strong market presence

"The union of farmers will lead to efficiency and a strong market presence", said minister of Agriculture and Food, Kiril Vatev during the meeting with industry and non-governmental organizations, where he presented the vision for the amendment and supplement of The Law of Cooperatives today at the ministry."The current law has proven over the years to be good, but there is an opportunity to supplement it in the direction of the unification of individuals, but legal entities. The main goal is to create working rules for cooperatives to present competitive production on the market," minister Vatev pointed out. He added that tax changes should also be considered in the draft law in order to encourage cooperation.

The participants in the meeting discussed the possibilities for legislative changes and gave specific proposals. The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Alexander Iotsev highlighted the sustainability of the cooperatives' model and the services they provide. He pointed out the possibilities of cooperatives to take advantage of various financial instruments, giving an example of insurance.The need to clarify the tax legislation during the preparation of the changes in the draft law was emphasized by the former Minister of Agriculture Yavor Gechev.

The chairperson of the National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives in Bulgaria, Nikolay Momchilov, commented that the current law is democratic, with the possibility of being revised, and highlighed the importance of regional and national unions of cooperatives.

"The Bulgarian Agrarian Chamber has the opportunity to contribute to the legal changes with a review of the European legislation, measures to encourage cooperation and the studies done so far", snoted the Executive Director Svetlana Boyanova. The Chairman of BAC Kostadin Kostadinov insisted on the exact regulation of the rules and tax reliefs.

The Chairman of the National Association of Grain Producers, Iliya Prodanov, commented on the importance of the unification against the background of the current market challenges for producers and the prospects for optimization of the production processes. "This can include remanufacturing and intelligent process management," he pointed out.

It is very important to responsibly approach and start cooperating, in order to find a way to work together from farm to table, said Rusi Nikolov, Chairman of the National Union of Water Users.

The representative of the National Organization of Young Farmers in Bulgaria, Rangel Matanski, said that the presence of economic incentives would lead to association, but markets will be the most important. Dean Todorov, the co-chairman of the National sheep and goat breeding association (NSGBA) commented on the importance of the association of agricultural producers in view of the upcoming creation of a guarantee instrument for the sector.Academician Atanas Atanasov commented that there are various possibilities for unification, but it is important to choose working models.

The participants in the meeting decided to propose representatives for the working group that will be formed for preparing the texts of the draft law. Representatives of the scientific community and branch organizations of agricultural producers attended the meeting.