29-year-old farmer with Best Beekeeper prize in Burgas region

Dimitar Stanchev, 29, is an ambitious farmer awarded 2014’s Best Beekeeper in Burgas region. He has 400 beehives, which he keeps on the territory of three municipalities - from Malko Tarnovo to Burgas. He believes that in order to develop a business, investments and innovations are necessary.

Today, his six apiaries are monitored remotely. He receives daily information via text messages about the condition of the bees, the temperature, and the collected honey. He believes that beekeeping has great potential and can bring money and fame to Bulgaria.

Dimitar was dreaming of owning a farm and won a project under the Rural Development Program, but faced difficulty in accessing funding. It turned out that there was no system to evaluate his hives, and he did not have any other collateral to offer for the loan.

The National Guarantee Fund advised him to check the terms in several commercial banks. After only two weeks, the young farmer received a positive response from one of the banks. Subsequently, he was approved to receive a supplementary guarantee from the NGF, which turned out to be the 500th for the fund.

"I believe that the activity of the National Guarantee Fund is of key importance for agriculture, because without investments things cannot happen, and the fund helps us to work trouble-free and be competitive," Dimitar Stanchev says.