The Minister of Environment and Water Manol Genov announced that he has issued an order to the directorates in the ministry responsible for water use permits to change the regulatory conditions. This will shorten the procedure for obtaining a water use permit for irrigation, and the issuance period will be halved.

The news came during the Third National Meeting of Fruit and Vegetable Producers, which is taking place in Plovdiv today. The event is organized by the Branch Chamber "Fruit and Vegetables". The forum aims to focus on the current challenges for the development of the sector and possible ways to overcome them.

"Our idea is that by reducing the bureaucracy surrounding the issuance of permits for agricultural needs, colleagues from the responsible departments will be able to review the water use maps, as they are extremely old and have not been updated over the years," Minister Genov clarified. According to him, the legislation requires the provision of documents, some of which is difficult to provide for agricultural producers. This leads to delays, and in some cases, the inability to issue permits to farmers. "That is why my team is working on amendments aimed at overcoming these practical problems," he added.

According to the State Enterprise for Management and Administration of Dams, there are over 6800 dams in Bulgaria, of which 4900 are municipal property /72%/ and were built in the past for irrigation purposes. It could be considered that the water accumulated in these facilities be made available for use by agricultural producers under a notification, rather than a permit regime, Minister Manol Genov told the forum.

Manol Genov added that the issue of providing water resources for irrigation from large and medium-sized rivers under a simplified regime, for example with limited quantities of up to 50 l/s for large and up to 10 l/s for medium-sized rivers respectively, is also being discussed. "It remains to be considered which rivers we will define as large or medium, and the answer should be provided by the scientific community and in particular by the National Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology," the Minister explained. "I hope that by the start of the new irrigation season on April 1 we will have dealt with these formalities in order to provide relaxed regimes," emphasized Manol Genov.

He presented data on the inefficient use of water resources in the country and the large losses of water, which in the water supply network are 60%, and in "Irrigation Systems" reach 90 percent. The Minister emphasized that water is first directed as a priority for drinking and domestic needs, then for irrigation, for energy needs, while fish resources are left behind. Due to the need to regulate water management, he proposed to establish a Water Agency, which would be subordinate to the Council of Ministers.

The forum, which was held with the ambition to support the fruit and vegetable production sector in order to ensure the country's food security, was also attended by the ministers of agriculture and food, labor and social policy, and regional development and public works.