Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr. Miroslav Naydenov will support the proposal of the Association of Grain Producers to ban the construction of renewable energy resources in agricultural lands from first to eighth category. This was announced during the conference on the"Impact of climate change on the Bulgarian economy”. The idea is the measure to be introduced in the Law for protection of farmland, which has been submitted to the National Assembly. Agricultural land, especially the most fertile should be used according to its purposes, the minister said.
In his opinion, Bulgaria should not use the easiest way to achieve the objectives set by the EU in relation to electricity production from renewable energy sources by construction of photovoltaics and wind power plants only. According to him, electricity produced by photovoltaics is 20 times more expensive than that from biomass plants. Forestry, agriculture and livestock farms have enough waste materials which may freely be used as biomass for the production of heat and electricity, said Minister Naydenov. These plants in turn will create many new jobs.
Bulgarian fertile land should be used for agriculture because due to the climate changes it will keep dramatically decreasingq while its value and role in the coming years will increase. Food crisis starts to be felt on a global scale and this will be the biggest challenge, underlined Minister Naydenov. He added that the other concept of the ministry is to preserve the forests, because they are a source of water and clean air. In the future, water will become more expensive than petrol, commented agriculture minister.
Ministry of Environment and Water of Bulgaria is developing a plan for adaptation to the climate changes due to the necessity of measures to prevent floods and droughts as a result of climate changes, announced Minister Nona Karadzhova. By the end of 2011 the flood risk assessment for the whole country will be ready.
The Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Traycho Traykov announced that a new economic strategy is being developed, in which high technologies and ecological products for the healthcare occupy a priority place.
The agricultural land will become more expensive during the next few years according to Dimitar Vartigov who is a partner in “Fara Consult”. The reasons are the climate changes and the growth of the population of the planet.