Greenhouse growers are demanding a meeting with Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, the minister of agriculture and representatives of the State Fund Agriculture to discuss options for state aid for the heating costs in greenhouse production.

According to data of the Greenhouse Growers’ Association, the rise in fuel prices is pushing the prices of Bulgarian vegetables up. Because of the high prices many growers are having to mortgage their property to save their production. The prices of fertilizers and plant protection products are also going up, and with the average price of tomatoes last year at EUR 0.65 a kilogram, and of cucumbers at EUR 0.9, this means that their price will now have to be quadruple. This will inevitably lead to bankruptcies because people simply wouldn’t be able to afford such expensive vegetables.