This year's peach harvest is abundant. The fruits are of exceptionally good quality due to the favorable climatic conditions, but the producers find themselves in a difficult financial situation.
Radoslav Chotrov is a hereditary gardener and peach producer. His orchards are located near the village of Hrabrino - in a semi-mountainous valley that is extremely favorable for growing fruit trees, writes Nova TV.
The local peaches are mainly dessert and have the fame of a unique aroma and sweetness.
Early in the morning, Radoslav is in the gardens to pick peaches. The harvest is abundant, but a dangerous pest has appeared.
„This year we have no frost, we have a lot of fruit. However, the pest "black goldfish" has appeared, says Radoslav Chotrov.
Hundreds of trees are dying because of the "goldfish". The preparations are expensive. The costs of plowing and fuel are also much higher than last year due to speculation with the euro and the war in the Gulf.
“Wholesale is 1.50 euros on the stock exchange. We can't cover anything with this price“, says the producer.
The demand for Bulgarian fruit is weak, and imports are huge. On the stock exchange, a kilogram of imported Greek peaches is under one euro.
”Imports are very large. There should be some kind of control over these imports. I don't see how these people can get away with it – for the Greeks, except with great help from the state, but I don't see how he managed to sell this peach in Greece for 80 cents?!“, commented Radoslav Chotrov.
“I'm sure that in Greece they also have “black gold“, it can't be only here. But there the treatment, the whole fight against this pest begins with the help of the state. And it is very large, the help of the state. And here at the moment they leave us alone – they give 190 euros per hectare from the “Agriculture” fund. This is extremely insufficient – 10 acres for me to cultivate with 190 euros – "how to do it," he asks.
Radoslav has his own nursery, and this helps him quickly restore the trees destroyed by the goldenrod.
However, many of his colleagues are on the verge of giving up, since the cost of a new tree varies from 10 to 15 euros, and hundreds of acres of orchards have been destroyed throughout the country.