| Farmland: the new trap set by the government | |
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Admin Administrator
Posts : 6136 Join date : 2009-08-15
| Subject: Farmland: the new trap set by the government Sat Apr 28, 2012 8:20 am | |
| [size=55:3ah71jeq] [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Farmland: the new trap set by the governmentNew amendments were introduced to the Ownership and Use of Agricultural Land Act on 27 March 2012. All agricultural land owners or lessees are now obliged by 31 July each year to submit declarations to the local offices of the Agriculture Municipal Service. The declarations need to point out how the farmland they own or use will be used. Art 37b. (1) Each owner shall submit a declaration form in the local Agricultural Municipality Service, where the land is located. The Form shall state the possession type and the type of long term usage of the land… Normally that is not a problem, but it’s yet another administrative burden. The real problem may occur to owners who don’t use their farmland or foreigners who have bought farmland though a limited company and haven’t leased it to a local farmer. The arguable text of Art. 37c para 3 says: When there is no consent between the users in terms of the agreement pursuant para 1 as well as for all land that is out of the scope of the agreement, the Commission drafts a plan for distribution of usage of the land, by plots by 15 September each year, in the following way:… Note that “all land that is out of the scope of the agreement” refers to the farm land that no declaration is submitted for. This means that if you miss to declare the type of usage of your farmland, the government considers it as abandoned and may grant its usage to a third party without your consent or approval. Legally speaking this is private property interference and creates a huge corruption base as well as a base for legal disputes. The government idea is to make use of all farmland, which is not used right now. The amount of such land is huge since after privatisation in 1990 each farmland plot was returned to 10+ heirs. Some of them live abroad, others because of legal disputes can’t cultivate their land. There are also simply non-interested parties so the farm land is not cultivated. |
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oldun Super user
Posts : 1275 Join date : 2009-09-19
| Subject: Re: Farmland: the new trap set by the government Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:08 am | |
| I can certainly see the problems arising for foreigners who have speculated in farmland, but probably the thinking behind this is to make use of the acres of land that we all see in Bulgaria lying idle and making no income for anyone. Agriculture is one of the areas I thought that the wonderful EU was to support Bulgaria in a self-sufficiency/employment way. From what I see in our area, not much is happening although one man in our village has bought new tractors and equipment, presumably with an EU grant and is now ploughing many fields out of the village. A small step maybe. Possibly the red-tape involved in any EU project puts off the Bulgarians and if there are 10 inheritors its easy to see the difficulties in getting agreement from all parties. |
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LisA Super user
Posts : 391 Join date : 2010-10-17
| Subject: Re: Farmland: the new trap set by the government Sun Apr 29, 2012 9:14 am | |
| :Good post:oldun I too have seen some of our locals with new equipment which I assum came from the EU but as you say its the red tape that puts so many off. |
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simon4food Registered user
Posts : 3 Join date : 2012-11-13
| Subject: Re: Farmland: the new trap set by the government Tue Nov 13, 2012 3:37 pm | |
| Hi people. New to the site.
Well having just acquired 9 plots on the berkovitsa region. I am now going down to the municipality tomorrow and enquiring about making this farming declaration. One of which borders regulation and I eventually want my dream house here. I would be devastated if I go next time and find it ploughed....!!
I am more and more reluctant to purchase anything else. I still live in the UK but spend probably a month a year travelling here just to do notary deeds, then waiting for deeds, then registering them, getting my skitsers,,,,now I learn I have another declaration to make....on top of all the other taxes etc....etc. getting pretty sick of it.
However, I manage to meet new people each time and look forward to my move here...hopefully next year. Im in vratsa now, going bk to the UK on Th Big shout out to Richard and his wife (forgot name ooops)...who have both been in Bulgaria for 6-7 years now. , who I met for the first time this week after numerous emails to each other. I felt all motivated again....after they invited me back to their home.
Thanks. |
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tonyb60 Mega user
Posts : 2150 Join date : 2010-02-18
| Subject: Re: Farmland: the new trap set by the government Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:05 pm | |
| Nice to see you simon4food can you please introduce yourself in the new member introduction section, just a little about yourself would be nice |
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SewageSolutionsBg Junior user
Posts : 41 Join date : 2010-06-11
| Subject: Re: Farmland: the new trap set by the government Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:59 am | |
| - simon4food wrote:
Big shout out to Richard and his wife (forgot name ooops)...who have both been in Bulgaria for 6-7 years now. , who I met for the first time this week after numerous emails to each other. I felt all motivated again....after they invited me back to their home.
Thanks. You're most welcome, It's always great to meet new and enthusiastic people looking to make the move !!! look forward to seeing you again in the spring....maybe with your worldly possesions ? (and Lesley says hello) |
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itchyfeet Mega user
Posts : 2268 Join date : 2010-09-10 Age : 68 Location : Paskalevets
| Subject: Re: Farmland: the new trap set by the government Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:58 am | |
| - oldun wrote:
- I can certainly see the problems arising for foreigners who have speculated in farmland, but probably the thinking behind this is to make use of the acres of land that we all see in Bulgaria lying idle and making no income for anyone.
Bulgaria is a lovely country with really good soil that could easily be used for arable farming. Having driven a little bit around the country it is easy to see thousands of acres laying abandoned that has been laid to fallow. But without ground maintenance the fields that have been left to fallow easily turn into scrubland, unfortunately scrubland is no good to anyone and the huge amount of acreage wasted is just sitting there doing nothing. The EU gives grants to owners turning their now useless pieces of land back into arable use and many Bulgarians have been the recipients of these grants. The Bulgarian Government are, in my view, trying to forge some form of Agricultural Policy and this cannot be bad for the country, there is a massive amount of exports that can be achieved by use of wasted land and of course the greater home produce that would be available here. It is quite clear that the law itself needs to be rejigged and amended so that it makes more sense and is more acceptable to the Bulgarians themselves, but in the main the BG Government are doing the right thing. |
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Carmen Super user
Posts : 714 Join date : 2010-03-19
| Subject: Re: Farmland: the new trap set by the government Mon Nov 19, 2012 4:57 pm | |
| I think one of the bmain problems is the subsidy the farmers are not getting even though the government do. Look at the figures below and it all looks very rosy but where has all that money gone?
Direct payments under European Agricultural Guarantee Fund €714,216,404 European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development €694,601,920 Other payments under European Agricultural Guarantee Fund €55,160,222 Public Storage €5,103,958 |
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GinaA Senior user
Posts : 176 Join date : 2009-11-15
| Subject: Re: Farmland: the new trap set by the government Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:27 pm | |
| This is a very good point Carmen the Bg government have always taken from the eu with the idea that it will help those who need it most but at we all know this is something of a dream for those who really need help. |
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| Subject: Re: Farmland: the new trap set by the government | |
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| Farmland: the new trap set by the government | |
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