2023-06-15 13:46:15
At a meeting with the deputies from Committee on Agriculturefood and forests yesterday the Minister of Agriculture Kiril Vatev showed that he has the well-established habits of a leader who is used to imposing his decisions on the team he manages. As a manager of a successful enterprise and also as a former chairman of an industry organization, he also has a wealth of experience.
We present you selected ones quotes from the speeches of the new Minister of Agriculture Kiril Vatev before the deputies:
♦ “Whatever we’re talking about, we want to break each and every decision through an assessment of the impact of the agro-food chain, and not just talk about a certain sector: “He called, he threatened, the third wanted”. I come from the industry and from an industry organization. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been to this ministry, from where I’ve left without understanding what we were meeting for, because there were scandals and ugly scenes. Because everyone is allowed to enter when they want, go where they want, pressure directors of directorates, chiefs and so on. From now on, meetings will be held on the agri-food chain, not on individual sectors. What are we talking about with separate sectors? How many more subsidies? We have very serious tasks to solve – with virtual animals for which money is given. For animals under selection control, which do not have any economic qualities, and are given mad money… Well, that’s why we have no results! We are results-oriented.”
♦ “Our team will work in full dialogue. There are no party appointments here. Even if party appointments are required, we will involve them in working for a result. If there is no result, I will ask the party to take them back.”
♦ “We will rely on all parliamentary groups, because agriculture and food must become a national priority. If it does not become a national priority, the huge potential that Bulgaria has will not be developed.”
♦ “We have unique conditions for organic farming. I can’t wait to meet with Mrs. Albena Simeonova to talk about organic farming. 7-8 years ago, I proposed to the then Commission on Agriculture that the mountainous and semi-mountainous areas, which have smaller pieces of land (for organic farming) and do not border conventional agriculture… They are not as large as in the Thracian lowland and the Danube plain, where the conventional can go. We can become #1 in organic farming if we make the necessary policies to make that happen.”
♦ “We are currently developing food security indicators. I will introduce you to these indicators. We will measure our work together with you on food security indicators. If they grow – we are doing well. If they don’t grow, we have a problem. “
♦ “Watch me under a magnifying glass! Watch me everywhere. If you find that I do something in my personal interest … The only thing I can tell me at the moment is that since I was a long time in the Sapard committee, ten years later I did my first project on the RDP. I have always relied on bank loans and my own strength.”
♦ “The first product that we registered (as a country) with a geographical indication was “Gornooryakhov sujuk”. Have you seen it on the market? Why is he gone? I can tell you. Some people secretly and slowly made their registration. But in Bulgaria there cannot be such products with a geographical indication for one simple reason. Bulgaria is a former socialist state in which decisions were made at the central level and everything was produced in DSOs throughout the country: Burgas salami, Kamchia salami, Gornooryakhovsky sujuk, Panagyur sausage, Elena fillet… They were produced everywhere. Why do we register them? We made (the standard) “Stara Planina”… Those foods that we registered as foods of a traditional-specific nature are also not available on the market in the required quantity and do not attract the trust of the consumer. Because everyone does them the way they want. There is almost no control. It relies on self-control. However, self-control is strong when it is self-control between competitors and when they have rights to self-control. When I control myself, it is not self-control. It’s: Whatever I feel like doing, that’s what I’ll do. There’s a lot to work on.
♦ “I will give an example of an Italian product that has the highest degree of protection “product of geographical origin” – Prosciutto di Parma. Around 200-240 euros per kilo. Brand imposed worldwide. The pig must be born in Parma, raised in Parma, slaughtered in Parma. And the corresponding leg, if it is 9 or 12 kg, goes to drying. On the 12th month, a strictly specialized committee with horse needles checks and only smells whether it matches or does not match. If it matches, the meat is dried for another 6 months. At 18 months, it is beating a hot stamp “Prosciutto di Parma”. Anything that doesn’t conform by the 12th month is separated and can be sold as prosciutto, but not ‘di Parma’. Well, how can you not trust such a thing? There is a 50-year-old institute there and its main functions are control, marketing and market. Producers are not afraid of anyone – neither the NRA nor the food agency. They are only afraid of the Instituto di Parma. Because there are people out there who are emotionally attached to this product and would rather have their heads chopped off than compromise. “
♦ “We do not have a definition of ‘fresh product’. (To shorten the supply chain, the cooperation of the National Assembly is needed to pass the relevant laws.) In France, Austria and other countries, fresh produce is understood as one that came out a certain number of hours ago from the garden or from the relevant production and was transported at no more than certain kilometers. A shortening of the supply chain will then occur. “
♦ “We don’t have a single slaughterhouse. We have hundreds, but these are not slaughterhouses, these are some artisanal performances. The largest carload of 600 pigs per day. The smallest from Serbia onwards drives at that much per hour.”
♦ “If we, together with you (MPs), do not focus on (creating) rules that do not compromise on falsehood, on directing the benefits to ourselves and not equally to everyone, we will do nothing. we have come to work for strict rules and better results.”
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