August 3 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian primary agricultural producers can apply between August 21 and October 2 for grants under a state aid scheme worth 16 million levs ($8.9 million/8.2 million euro) in total to enable them to cope with irrigation expenses for the cultivation of agricultural crops, the agriculture ministry said.
The mechanism will compensate up to 80% of irrigation costs incurred based on payments for contracts agreed by September 30, the ministry said in a press release.
You can download the 2023 Agriculture industry in Southeast Europe report here
The individual grants, capped at 250,000 euro each, will be paid out until November 30 and are also available to tobacco producers.
The assistance adds to a list of temporary state aid measures designed to boost the liquidity of farmers and enable them to cope with the negative economic impact of the Russian war against Ukraine.
The European Commission cleared the Bulgarian state aid for irrigation in June, which comes on top of direct grants of 109 million euro to farmers, already approved in March.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)