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The Program for Roma integration in society has been successful
More than 1,000 Roma families in Bulgaria have become landowners
‘For the Roma, agriculture and integration’ is a program financed by the Dutch organization for international development and co-operation – Novib. It is about a five-year program implemented in South Bulgaria, aimed at helping the Roma who do not possess land, to become landowners and start a sustainable agriculture business which will provide them a stable income. Within the program realization nearly 1,000 Roma families in 16 villages have been included, dealing with different types of agriculture.
In the past the Roma people were mostly blacksmiths. They, traveling through different areas, offered their services to the villagers, of which they could survive. With the modernization of society, their services were no longer needed. That fact led to a great number of Roma people to come to the verge of their existence. If they do not get a chance to find their place in the new economic reality, they can get even poorer and more isolated.
Equality before market society’s demands
The goal of this program, implemented in the surroundings of Plovdiv in Bulgaria, is equality before market society’s demands. That principle, as far as the Roma people are concerned, is only formal. Its beginnings date in 1993, and the participants are Roma families who do not have their own land and want to be included in farming and become independent.
After changing some of the laws in Bulgaria, the Program started with help by the CEGA Foundation, with 600 Roma families that had to pay 2 percent of its value for the land that they had received by the Ministry of Agriculture and the local land commission. In 1996 poor Roma people received more than 1,600 decares of land for a longer period of time in the city of Brezovo, the villages of Borets, Calakovi and Begovo, as well as in the surroundings of Plovdiv. First problems related to the little experience that the Roma people have with agriculture are solved by engaging experts who work on the field with the families in all phases, from land cultivation to collection of fruits. In 1997, helped by a Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ project, seeds and machines were provided as an aid. The families received from 3 to 12 decares of land, and they mostly grew vegetables and forage. After the successful start of the Program and receiving the land, realization of the second phase started, training the participants for the basics of agriculture. Experts held trainings for land cultivation, growing crops, as well as protecting the plants from diseases. Within financing the program participants, a three-way financing scheme was provided by the CEGA Foundation, for which a fund of 20,000 dollars was formed, provided by donors. The money, given as conditional grants to the families, was returned within some period of time into a social development fund. Thus the Program provided for continual crediting of the families, with no participation of banks that want guarantees, as having property, a condition which is not fulfilled by the poor Roma people.
With this financial scheme, the Program has fulfilled its first goal, to provide land for the poor and stable means for its cultivation. For that purpose, the Limited Partnership Company – LPC has been formed. For the achievement of the second goal, as training, council and distribution of information, the Agro-informative Center has been formed. 5,000 leaflets with information about the application of the project have been distributed. All families not included in the LPC, have had an opportunity to get familiar with the conditions and receive specialized agricultural information. Also, with the brochures issued by the Center, families have been informed about the technical guides regarding land cultivation. Soon, the Program goes beyond the ethnic frame of the Roma community and poor families from all ethnic groups are interested in it.
S.N.
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