The aim is to achieve exports of 100,000 lambs a year, according to officials in Bulgaria.
File picture, courtesy of BGNES.

Bulgaria and Qatar have discussed opportunities for lamb exports to Doha, according to Sofia News Agency.
Bulgaria’s Agriculture Minister Dimitar Grekov yesterday discussed opportunities for lamb exports with representatives from Qatar, novinite.com, the portal of the news agency said.
The meeting with representatives from Qatar was also attended by Deputy Ministers Yavor Gechev, Burhan Abazov and Valentina Marinova, industry experts and officials of livestock breeders’ associations, the report said.
Nikolay Krastanov, member of the managing board of the National Sheep Breeders’ Association, told investor.bg that the aim was to achieve exports of 100,000 lambs a year.
According to a media statement from the agriculture ministry, the Qatari government has deposited $50mn with Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) and the funds are to be granted as interest-free loans to sheep farmers so that they can invest in animals, fodder and equipment.
The press office of Bulgaria’s agriculture ministry has asserted that the project is not a subsidy but a long-term commercial deal.
Krastanov said statistics indicated that the number of sheep in Bulgaria fell by 3-20% a year, depending on the region.
He, however, assured that sheep farmers still had sufficient capacity for supplies to Qatar, adding that an export rate of 100,000 lambs a year was not that high.
The report says Qatar has placed several conditions for the deal, including working directly with the Bulgarian state, because of the fragmented nature of production, to have guarantees that the project will not fail and to receive big supplies of high-quality batches of sheep, meaning that the animals have to be well-bred and weigh certain kilograms.
“This is a long-term project, provided we pass the admission test,” Krastanov said, adding that it was still unclear how farmers were to absorb the $50mn deposited with BDB and the state had to create a mechanism.
Currently Qatar imports almost all of its food requirements. But the government has launched ambitious plans to achieve food security by setting up dedicated establishments and investing billions of riyals in projects , both locally and abroad.
Qatar has entered into deals with countries like Sudan, Australia and Pakistan for producing or importing grains and livestock. Widam (formerly Mawashi) and Hassad Food Company are two of the leading organisations tasked with ensuring food supplies to Qatar.