On March 19, 2025, the General Annual Meeting of the Union of Poultry Farmers in Bulgaria was held. For the fourth consecutive year, the meeting was hosted by the Bulgarian Industrial Chamber.
Among the official guests were the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Stefan Burdzhev, the Deputy Director of the Bulgarian Food and Agriculture Association Dr. Valentin Atanasov, the Chairman of the Bulgarian Agricultural Association Dobri Mitrev, directors of directorates in the Ministry of Agriculture, representatives of the Bulgarian Food and Agriculture Association and the Center for Food Chain Risk Assessment. Congratulatory addresses to the participants were sent by the Minister of Agriculture Georgi Tahov, the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Food and Agriculture Association Dr. Svetoslav Patarinski and the Executive Director of the State Fund "Agriculture" Iva Ivanova.
In his speech to the participants in the meeting, Mr. Burdzhev informed that over 39 million leva was the utilized resource for 2024. under the state scheme "Aid for the implementation of voluntary commitments for humane treatment in poultry farming". "The Ministry of Agriculture and Food remains a partner of Bulgarian poultry farmers in the efforts to modernize the sector, promote innovation and ensure a favorable business environment", said the Deputy Minister.
Dobri Mitrev also welcomed the participants in the General Assembly, outlining the challenges facing economic operators in our country, including the high price of energy, heavy bureaucratic procedures that carry an additional financial burden for enterprises, problems with labor shortages and opportunities for easing the terms and conditions for importing workers for seasonal and year-round employment, problems in the education system and inactive individuals. The Chairman of the Bulgarian Agricultural Association stressed the importance of dialogue with state institutions in order to protect the interests of enterprising people in Bulgaria - greater economic freedom and competitiveness at the national and European level. "We have potential - there are hardworking people with ideas in Bulgaria and if we have a partnership with the institutions and seek solutions to the problems together in direct dialogue, we will not always be in 27th place out of 27 in the EU. Your organization has a good vision for the sector, so I wish you to be heard more - we are behind you and you can count on our support and expertise," said Dobri Mitrev.
The Bulgarian Poultry Association presented its activity report for 2024. The main challenges facing the Poultry sector were identified as avian influenza, which affected over 1,178,000 birds in 2024, the war in Ukraine and the disrupted transport corridors. Structural changes and trends in the sector were also outlined - a decrease in the number of farms, the number of commercial laying hens, the total number of birds (by 6.4%) and small farms, with farms with up to 100 birds being the most affected. Stability in large farms, an increase in parent flocks by 40.3% and a growth in growing hens by 4.8% were reported. The main conclusion for trade was stable production, but declining exports.
