A regular meeting of the Business Council in the Agro-food sector was held in the village of Smilyan
On 25.03.2023 at 10:30 a.m. in the hall of the "Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov 1927", the village of Smilyan, a regular meeting of the Business Council was held in the Agri-food sector in the border regions of Blagoevgrad, Haskovo, Kardjali and Smolyan, and the activity is carried out under the project "Business Council - BC 6275" financed by the program INTERREG V/A GREECE-BULGARIA 2014-2020, Subsidy contract No. B6.3a.18/13.04.2021.
The meeting was attended by five representatives of the sector from the border regions of Haskovo, Kardjali, Blagoevgrad and Smolyan. The hall for holding the meeting was secured technically, being equipped - multimedia, portable computer, printer, as well as information boards, banner and presentation materials, according to the requirements of the Communication and Publicity Guide of the Interreg V/A Greece-Bulgaria 2014-2020 program . In addition, disinfectants were provided, as well as water, coffee and tea to ensure the event's coffee break.
The moderator of the event welcomed all those present and started the event by making a short presentation of the Regulations for the work of the BS in the Agro-food sector.
The topic of current discussion was the cultivation of smilyan beans in the area. The main livelihood of the people from the settlements along the upper reaches of the Arda River, the cultivation of beans has traditions that have remained unchanged for more than 250 years. Unfortunately, this is a family tradition and the cultivation of Smiljan beans is still done by small farms and in small areas – its 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 changing weather conditions. For a good harvest, it is necessary to maintain the balance between temperature and air humidity. In the last few years, as a result of global warming, deviations in the quality of harvests have been noticed. This, together with the Covid 19 pandemic and the depopulation of the area are factors that seriously threaten the traditional cultivation of Smiljan beans from extinction.
A large part of those present are of the opinion that as a product with a protected name that promotes our country, it is necessary for the state to get involved more actively 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 name of beans.
In relation to the above, the project team shared their experience from previous business council meetings in the Agro-food industry and briefly told the attendees how they could insure their crops. The team explained about the not-so-favorable conditions that the insurance companies give to the manufacturers, after all, this is some compensation for the unrealized costs.
The council decided together with the project management team to take their ideas to local government representatives.
