In times of shrinking and uncompetitive Bulgarian agriculture, two fields from this sector have been steadily on the rise over the past years. These are grain production and bio-farming. The latter, however, started from scratch and it is now too early to speak of a serious presence in the overall agricultural structure. The lands which are cultivated in an organic manner amount to only 40 000 hectares at present which stands for 1% of all cultivated lands in Bulgaria. However, the progress of this type of farming is obvious, contends Stoilko Apostolov, manager of the Foundation for Organic Agriculture, who participates in the development of a project for brand new strategy of development of the Bulgarian agriculture.
“Since 2006, when Bulgaria became an EU member state, until the end of 2012, we have witnessed a nine-fold increase in the number of the organic farmers. On the other hand, the plots of land cultivated in an organic manner have grown nearly 6 times. Thus, we now have at least one sector in the Bulgarian agriculture which has been developing well and steadily, although it is far from being in a prefect state. The organic farming is a reflection of the huge problems which currently exist in the Bulgarian farming as a whole”, says Mr. Apostolov.
The trend of development of this sector is really promising. In 2012 only, the number of bio-farmers in Bulgaria has gone up by 90% as compared to 2011 and the organic areas saw a 60% increase as compared to the previous year. In 2012, the total turnover of organic produce on the Bulgarian market has grown by 40% year on year and the sales in the specialized bio-shops have increased by 20%, those in the big retail chains-by 50% and the E-trade of bio-products have gone up twice. In 2013, the experts in this field expect a new, 25% growth in the sales of the organic produce.
Undoubtedly, the EU funds provided to the Bulgarian agriculture since 2007 have contributed a lot to the fast development of this sector. Until that year, the Bulgarian organic farming was struggling to survive and showed nothing but a pure enthusiasm. According to experts, this country has a huge potential for development of this modern and popular type of farming. Bulgaria has very clean and lucrative lands and century-old traditions in the agricultural field. The Bulgarian organic foods have become more popular on the international markets.
“The essential oils are the most popular organic products on the markets at present. Bulgaria ranks first in Europe with regard to rose oil production and fourth in the world rankings in terms of certified bee families. There are some major producers of organic fruit and vegetables who also find good markets for their produce abroad. Bulgaria places among the world leaders with regard to herb production and the output of wild mushrooms, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. The certification of these types of food happens easily, because there are many huge and clean lands in this country, appropriate for the production of such plant species.”
The new wave within the Common Agricultural Policy 2014-2020 entitled “becoming green” provides exceptional opportunities for development of the organic farming. A special group of experts and people employed in this sector are currently developing a Bulgarian policy for best usage of the EU funds to encourage the local bio-farming. They outlined several critical fields which urgently need to receive financial aid. One of them is the organic stock-breeding. So far, only the plant-growing sector has received supplementary payments for organic development.
“We are now insisting on payments for the organic stock-breeding as well”, says Mr. Apostolov. "This issue needs to be resolved quickly, because the number of stock-breeders as compared to the total number of the organic farmers in Bulgaria is very low. There are only 18 organic farms in Bulgaria out of 2800 farms, which stands for only 0.6% of the total number of the Bulgarian farms. We know that more manual labor, which is more expensive than the machine one, is used in the organic farming. The organic farmers also use more expensive and cleaner chemicals. This is why they need to be compensated financially for their high expenditures and lower profits. I will give you an example- the breeding of a cow under the conventional method requires a certain area in square meters inside a farm. However, if you want to breed a cow in an organic manner, you will need much larger space, because the animal has to have to opportunity to walk more freely. Therefore, the farmer needs to extend its farm cowshed or to cut the number of the animals. This is why these people need to be compensated with subsidies well."
The new national policy of organic farming recommends that the EU funds should be used for the transition from export of organic materials to manufacture of end products. This is so, because currently Bulgaria exports a huge quantity of raw organic materials which later return to Bulgaria processed and very expensive.
“It is very important for Bulgaria to export end products”, says Stoilko Apostolov. “We should start exporting cosmetics rather than essential oils and dried herbs only. We need to start exporting more expensive and high-quality products. Thus, the local organic farming will become more lucrative. I want to see at least one popular Bulgarian brand on the world market”, concludes Mr. Apostolov.
It is not enough to produce a high-quality product in order to step on the highly-competitive world market,. It also requires huge investments, good marketing strategies and advertising. The EU structural funds provide many opportunities to boost competitiveness, including market research and commercials. They should be used for the promotion of the Bulgarian organic products, the experts in this sector contend. They also recommend changes in the recent employment strategy in the agriculture field, which excludes seasonal employment in this sector. In this respect, the Bulgarian organic farming can play a huge part, because it needs a lot of manual labor.
English version: Kostadin Atanasov
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