Bio for all - The eighth edition of an organic farming exhibition

The eighth edition of an organic farming exhibition opened Saturday near Ariana lake in central Sofia. The exhibition is organized by the Minister of Agriculture and Food and the Agrolink association. This year the event is held under the motto of "Bio for all" .

Lovers of organic farming can taste and buy Bulgarian and imported organic products from the stalls which offer fruit, vegetables, milk, bread and other raw and processed foods, and cosmetics.

Participating in the exhibition are 50 companies, including 17 producers, three processing companies, eight NGOs and five publishers.

Many attended a festival of organic farming held on the sidelines of the exhibition. Dutch Ambassador here Willem van Ee and MPs were seen among them.

The area of registered certified plots used for organic farming in Bulgaria totals 9,370 ha. The number of animals and bee families used in an environmentally friendly manner has considerably increased, Vyara Stefanova, Head of the Organic Farming Department with the Agriculture and Foods Ministry said.

Bulgaria has allocated 146 million leva for the development of organic farming in the 2007-2013 period. 1461 applications have been filed for funding within the Organic Farming Measure of the Programme on the Development of Rural Regions. The financial resource allocated for this measure is 435,000,000 euro.

The raising of 13,500 bee families in an environmentally friendly manner will also be assisted, Stefanova said.

A total of 201 applications have been filed within the Development of Agricultural Activities Aimed at Environment Protection Measure.

As at January 1, 2008 a total of 395 cattle, 1,690 sheep, 1,058 goats and 35,747 bee families were raised in organic farms.These farms gave 689,000 litres of crude milk, 62,000 litres of yoghurt, 7,6 tonnes of cheese and 998 tonnes of bee honey. Over 80 per cent of the organic produce is exported.

Under BTA