The Fruit and Vegetables Chamber (BKPZ) has asked the Agriculture Ministry and the State Fund Agriculture (DFZ) to explain why some fruit and vegetable growers got no advance under coupled support for the 2026 campaign. It made the request in a letter to agriculture minister Plamen Abrovski and DFZ executive director Vladislava Kazakova. BTA also received a copy.

The fund paid out the money on Tuesday, 10 November, as the ministry announced on 23 October: €18,768,270, or nearly €19m, to 10,098 fruit and vegetable farmers.

The background: 10,098 fruit and vegetable farmers get nearly €19m in advance payments

The chamber says some of its members got no support from these payments. It says it received many complaints from growers across Bulgaria. BKPZ wants the authorities to explain the conditions under which the advances were paid. It expects a quick reply, and what it does next will depend on that.

The advance was split among farmers who declared areas of fruit, vegetables and greenhouse vegetables that qualify for an advance. The aid covers nine interventions, meaning separate types of support, in the Strategic Plan for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas for 2023 to 2027.

The chamber says farmers need the money for urgent farming work, meaning the essential tasks in their fields and orchards. Without it, farms are in serious difficulty, BKPZ says.