This Bulgarian municipality gets an official farmer status

The mountain town of Troyan will be the first in the country to grow its own produce

The Municipality of Troyan, in Bulgaria, has announced that it has sought and obtained official status as a registered agricultural producer. That makes it the first such public entity in the Balkan country to boast such status.

The status of a registered agricultural producer is usually reserved for farmers and businesses who wish to engage in the production of food. The news shows that there’s now a break with that administrative tradition and that the Bulgarian bureaucracy has accommodated a new category of who (or what) can be registered as a farmer.

The aim: providing better food to local children

That precedent will hopefully serve as a good example for other municipalities in the country. As Troyan’s mayor Donka Mihailova explained, this step was not taken as a way to serve the usual economic interests, such as gaining a better ranking for European subsidies, but to promote public health.

More specifically, the mayor of the mountain town wants to build on the positive trends, which have shown that currently, the obesity rates among Troyan children are three times lower than other municipalities in the region.

According to her, these splendid findings are the result of targeted efforts to introduce healthy nutrition among children and students and the development of sports habits. In that regard, the mayor was also proud to mention that the diabetes rates among kids were also three times lower.

Mayor Mihailova talked to the Bulgarian agricultural minister and described to him the municipal plan to grow good and locally sourced food, which will be supplied directly to the school and kindergarten kitchens. The idea is to develop healthy nutritional plans for the students.

The Municipality is also certified as a beekeeper and honey producer.