Farmers who grow peaches were left without state support for the early harvest destroyed by the cold. In contrast, the owners of gardens with cherries, sour cherries and apricots will receive compensation, according to a decision of the Ministry of Agriculture. Due to losses from early varieties, the peach harvest in our country is extremely weak, which is also the reason for the higher prices.
BNT warned about this.
Radoslav Chotrov grows nearly 20 acres of peaches in the land of the Plovdiv village of Hrabrino. The cold in early April scalded the flowering of early varieties. The losses were 100%.
Radoslav Chotrov - producer: "There were inspections, everything was ascertained on the spot, there is an opinion that 100%, the first early varieties were frostbitten - the varieties "Red Heaven", "July Large Peach". They are traditional for our region, We applied for state aid, but in the end it turned out that they would only finance sour cherries, cherries and apricots. They are still stone fruit plantations, but there was no aid for peaches".
In Radoslav's garden, manual labor is mainly used - for spraying, cutting and picking. This increases the final costs of producers.
Radoslav Chotrov, producer: "Currently, the forecast is that we will at least be able to recover the costs we have invested, but it will still be difficult. It will not be possible to recover all the investments we have made during the year".
Now the farmers who grow peaches in the area of the village of Hrabrino rely on the harvest of late varieties. They sell the produce at the market in the village.
Velička Pavlova: "We come here quite often to buy because they are good. The air is great, which guarantees that they are good in quality".
Radoslav Chotrov, producer: "Most of the people, the customers who pass through our traditional market, understand peaches. They know the ripening period of the peach and they come and ask, there are 3-4 varieties, they look for them and they know that they can only find them here".