The regional governor of Kyustendil, Alexander Pandurski, declared a state of emergency by his order from 3:00 p.m. on April 11, 2025 in the region due to the damage caused to fruit plantations after the frosts in recent days, the press center of the regional administration reported.
The National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology registered sub-zero temperatures in the period from April 8 to 10, 2025 on the territory of all municipalities in the region.
The director of the Regional Directorate “Agriculture“ Yordan Domozetov has been appointed as the head of the implementation of the decisions and measures taken. Authorities and officials responsible for implementing the measures and activities taken are the Regional Headquarters, the Director of the Regional Directorate "Agriculture", the Director of the State Fund "Agriculture" - Kyustendil, the Director of the "Institute of Agriculture" - Kyustendil and the Director of the Regional Directorate for Food Safety - Kyustendil.
The press center of the Regional Administration - Kyustendil reports that according to the order, the head and designated officials must create the necessary organization and notify farmers of the period during which they can submit the necessary documents to the relevant institutions to determine the damage to the plantations - from 10.04.2025. within ten working days.
The Institute of Agriculture - Kyustendil must prepare recommendations to farmers for the necessary measures that are necessary to restore the normal development of fruit plantations. It is necessary to prepare a report to the Ministry of Agriculture with an assessment of the situation in the Kyustendil region in order to seek assistance in reducing the negative consequences, given the specifics of the region - development mainly of fruit growing, without compensating other agricultural activities (plant growing or grain production), the regional administration also indicated, bTV reported.
The regional and municipal disaster protection plans must be updated in view of the damage caused to agricultural crops and fruit plantations by sudden anomalies in climatic conditions - warming, followed by severe cold and persistent sub-zero temperatures in the months of March and April and to organize meetings with insurance companies to discuss the possibilities of compensating farmers for damage to fruit plantations. Earlier today, at the initiative of the Mayor of Kyustendil Municipality Ognyan Atanasov, a meeting was convened between representatives of institutions and agricultural producers, at which it was decided to declare a partial state of emergency. The cold weather over the past few days, according to specialists from the Institute of Agriculture in Kyustendil, has destroyed the harvest of cherries, plums, sour cherries, sour cherries and other stone fruit species.