Bulgaria Newsflash Week 32
Bulgaria strengthens control on the use of steroids and antibiotics in livestock farming; Extra budget for agriculture in the draft RRF; how much is the annual wheat yield; Bulgarian AgriTech novelties: all in our Agri News Week 31, 2021. Enjoy reading!
Bulgaria steps up control on the use of steroids and antibiotics in livestock farming
The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency is stepping up control on the use of banned substances in livestock farms, AgroPlovdiv reports. A new ordinance published in the State Gazette provides for the preparation of a national monitoring programme for control on residual substances. The Agency will be watching for two groups of residual substances and pollutants. In the first group are substances with anabolic effect and banned substances, and in the second group are veterinary medicines and pollutants from the environment. Animal owners and/or business operators, as well as the owners of facilities where primary processing is done, will have to do self-control for residual substances.
Extra BGN 170 Mln for agriculture in revised National Recovery and Resilience Plan
BGN 170 million has been added for agriculture in the revised draft National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) reports. They will go towards sustainable agriculture. In this way the grants for agriculture, fisheries and forestry, that are available in the National Plan, will increase by close to 70% to reach BGN 480 million. The new funding is close to 4 per cent of the total amount that Bulgaria will receive for this sector in the form of EU grants (BGN 12.8 billion). This figure is arable to the sector’s annual contribution to the gross domestic product.
Annual wheat yield at 6,050 kg/ha
Of all autumn crops, wheat is showing the biggest increase in average yield, according to Agriculture Ministry figures. Increased yields are also seen for the other crops, reports Agri.BG. According to figures as of July 22, the average per-ha yield for wheat, which is the dominant grain crop – grew by 53.6% from last year to reach 6,050 kg/ha. The wheat output currently stands at 5,032,443 t, which is 12.8% more than this time last year.
Bulgarian IT experts develop early fire detection system
One of the latest products of the young researchers from the University of Angel Kunchev in Ruse, on the Danube, involves use of AI in precision farming, reports Agri.BG. Working jointly with researchers from Greece and Cyprus, they developed a fully autonomous solution for early detection of wild fires. It is a two-tier system using a fixed-wing drone and an unmanned multirotor systems. The fire detection system has already been integrated and is being tested in the Rusenski Lom Nature Reserve.
AgRUbot – the Bulgarian affordable robot for precision farming
Two young engineers and doctoral students at the University of Angel Kunchev in Ruse, Kristian Velkovski and Toni Tonchev, are developing AgRUbot, an autonomous robotic platform for precision farming, Agri.BG reports. The prototype uses a camera and AI to detect plants affected by diseases and pests. The system is equipped with autonomous controls based on a GPS sensor. The ambition of the two developers is to offer a system that is inexpensive and affordable to small farms. AgRUbot gained popularity after its participation in an international competition of the CLAAS Foundation where it ranked first and won a grant to finance the project.