27 stotinki for a size L egg. At this price, a good producer sells his goods in protest against unfair trade practices. However, he is not against large chains, because in his words, they are part of the problem, but also his solution.
Nikolay Kolev is selling at the weekly farmers' market for the third time at this price. A queue is forming in front of his stall even before he arrives.
In less than an hour, Nikolay sells one-tenth of his daily production. He raises 11,000 hens, which bring him 10,000 eggs a day. He has been doing this for 13 years, Nova TV specifies.
„During this time, I have been through almost everything that is possible to happen on a poultry farm. "We experienced bird flu twice in the area," the man says.
His initiative comes in response to consumer dissatisfaction.
„The problem is income. If incomes in Bulgaria were at the EU level, no one would pay such serious attention to the prices of food products. But since we are the poorest country in the EU, citizens almost rebelled against this injustice. And I decided that as a producer I could somehow support them," the man says.
A union of poultry farmers who work with large chains has recently been created, and Nikolay is part of it. The state should stay away from the economic relations between economic entities, the poultry farmer is firmly convinced.
„A ceiling on the markup is not a good approach. Simply because this is a solution that is like a band-aid on a wound that needs to be sewn up,” he believes.
The key is eliminating intermediaries in the market chain, says Nikolay. The solution lies in uniting producers.
“So that they have market power and can conclude contracts that are good for them,” he added.