Бизнес

In 2002, the Agriculture Fund will sharply reduce the credits for potato production. From BGN 1,500,000 last year, the amount now drops to BGN 500,000 for the entire country. The unpleasant news was brought by the Chairman of the Association of Potato Growers Atanas Birnikov and the Director of the Center for Business and Information Svetlana Papukchieva. A representative of the Association of Seed Producers was also involved in the meeting with one of the Vice-Presidents of the Agriculture Fund. The fund has explained that the money for potato production is declining, as from this year they are introducing new lines for flax, cotton, tomatoes, pepper and others. There is little theoretical possibility that the amount of 500,000 levs will slightly increase. According to specialists, the allocated funds for the production of potatoes will be extremely insufficient. Many of the big firms, including in the Velingrad region, have so far used loans from the Agriculture Fund. The new situation will seriously affect their business, and hence the employment of labor in this traditional for our end industry. Tempo