In order to effectively combat hailstorms and protect agricultural production, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food has launched a procedure for the construction of 24 new missile sites. This was announced by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr. Georgi Tahov at a meeting with branch organizations of producers in the Ministry building. Minister Tahov pointed out that a thorough analysis has been carried out by the Executive Agency "Combating Hail" (EACH) and the construction of sites is also planned in areas where there is currently no protection. It is planned to build 7 more missile sites for the Regional Directorate for Combating Hail in Staro Selo, Sliven Region, and 4 more missile sites for the Regional Directorate for Combating Hail in Dolni Dabnik, Pleven Region. The Minister of Agriculture also informed that a complete analysis has been commissioned for the maximum expansion of the scope of city defense on the territory of the country.
Farmers commented on the damage suffered to agricultural areas and greenhouses, as well as the reasons for having uninsured areas. In this regard, the participants in the meeting discussed the possibilities of building a consolidated payment mechanism for compensating producers in force majeure circumstances. Minister Takhov reminded that until now, 3 times more applications have been submitted under the scheme for state aid for insurance of agricultural production, compared to the same period last year. "We are working intensively on the damage assessment based on the applications submitted by the farmers," said the Minister of Agriculture and Food.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food, Ivan Kapitanov, informed about the meetings held with the Ministry of Transport and Internal Traffic Control, where the cases with restrictions on the processing of hail clouds by aircraft were discussed.
The executive director of EACH, Eng. Valeri Tsenov, presented data on climate change in Bulgaria and the trend towards an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. Valeri Tsenov presented data on climate change in Bulgaria and the trend towards an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events. He recalled that at the moment the total area protected by the missile method from hailstones is 21.6 thousand square km in the most heavily urbanized areas of the country in the regions of Vidin, Montana, Vratsa, Pleven, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Sliven, Haskovo. The Agency has 262 missile sites. The EACH emphasized that the quality of the anti-hail defense missiles they use is good and this has been proven in international laboratories.
Minister Tahov informed on the advancement of the 2024 campaign on direct payments. He announced that the button for completing the applications of agricultural producers in the Electronic Services System (ESS) of the State Fund "Agriculture" is active. At the moment, a total of over 48,000 applications have been submitted for the campaign with a claimed area of 3.3 million hectares. An organization has been created to complete the campaign on time, because the timely payment of funds to producers depends on this, he added.