"The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry wants to support young people by enabling them to meet successful farmers in our country through the Super Farmer campaign. The aim is to encourage them to stay in Bulgaria and develop in the field of agriculture." This was said by Deputy Minister Dr. Lozana Vassileva before students from the Professional High School of Agriculture “Prof. Ivan Ivanov”, who visited Mrs. Galina Mircheva's livestock farm in the village of Petarnitsa, Dolni Dabnik Municipality. She stressed that the focus of the campaign is on students from vocational high schools in agriculture, who at this stage of their lives make their choice for development. "Our country has centuries of tradition in agriculture, has gone through different stages, but at the moment we have a well-developed, balanced agricultural sector. With these visits, we will show students how successful implementation of business in the agricultural sector is possible", said the Deputy Minister. She added that the sector is supported by national and European funding. Dr. Vassileva noted that during the two periods of implementation of the Rural Development Program, a large amount of resources was utilized for the modernization of the farms and their competitiveness.
Deputy Minister Vassileva explained that the Super Farmer campaign is being run in two stages, with the first one launching this month. During the visit, the holdings of 26 RDP beneficiaries will be visited. “The second one will be implemented between the end of February and April 2020", the Deputy Minister explained. She added that the total number of students enrolled in the practice is more than 350 out of 21 vocational high schools. They are from the fields - stock-breeder, farmer, agricultural technician, agro-ecologist and others. Lozana Vassileva also said that five such visits have been conducted so far, involving about 80 students. Today, the campaign is being implemented in five more farms in the districts - Blagoevgrad, Varna, Burgas and V. Turnovo. "The farms involved in the campaign mainly operate in the areas of permanent crops, animal husbandry. In the field of agricultural machinery, children will look at machines and get acquainted with their operation", said Dr. Vassileva. She wished the students to be motivated and initiative in their education.
Deputy Minister of Education and Science Tanya Mihailova also attended the event. The campaign is being implemented in partnership with the MES and is consistent with its policy of promoting dual education. It provides an opportunity to improve the capacity of educational institutions and employers to organize and create sustainable partnerships to ensure the quality of training.