New nomenclature with crop codes for Campaign 2015

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food has kept its promise to the Association of Agricultural Producers in Bulgaria (AAPB) and has published the Nomenclatures with the codes for declaring agricultural crops for Campaign 2015, as well as the crops under the coupled support schemes.

The change in the nomenclatures is necessary in order to meet the requirements of the EU Regulation on direct payments, namely: “Winter and spring crops are considered as different crops, even when they belong to the same genus.” In this situation, most farmers encounter difficulties when calculating the number and shares of crops for the purposes of the new “green” diversification requirement. It is important that each producer be well acquainted with the codes so that they can correctly declare the areas with the specific crop they cultivate. The Association of Agricultural Producers in Bulgaria believes that farmers should be familiar in advance with the different schemes before they start delineating their areas in Campaign 2015.

The AAPB team provides a specific example with the crop peas, which very clearly shows where and how confusion may arise when submitting the documents for the declaration of agricultural crops.

Peas from the group “cereals” with code 112041 (grain peas – winter) and 112042 (grain peas – spring) may be declared for the fulfilment of the “green” obligation for 5% EFA (nitrogen-fixing crop) and at the same time may be declared under the coupled support scheme for protein crops, without the requirement to prove a minimum yield. However, peas from the group “fresh vegetables” with code 141100 (green peas) may also be declared for 5% EFA (nitrogen-fixing crop), but the coupled support scheme is now for vegetables (under which it is mandatory to prove a minimum yield with a document for marketing) and with this code the coupled support scheme for protein crops cannot be applied for.

The new nomenclature is available to interested parties on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food:

• NOMENCLATURE OF CROPS FOR CAMPAIGN 2015
• NOMENCLATURE OF CROPS UNDER THE COUPLED SUPPORT SCHEMES FOR CAMPAIGN 2015

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Food and AAPB