Sustainability of Bulgarian agriculture

Sustainable development in terms of agriculture - short summary    

           The  concept  of  sustainability   of  agriculture spreads  very  fast  and  has been developed  in  different aspects such as biological, economic and social. The  most  popular  concept  of  sustainability is  related  to  ecology  and  says  that  a  farming  system  can  not  be  defined  as  sustainable  if  it harms the environment.According to other points of view, sustainability  is the capacity  for sufficient and non-decreasing with   time  production  of  food  products  per capita. The focus here is social and concentrates on  the  utilization  of  technical  progress  and market mechanisms.

       There  are  different  definitions  of  sustainable agriculture  but  they  usually do not  fully reflect its  essence  and  only  characterize  one  or  more of its aspects: either the resource, e.g. soil, or the institution on, e.g. semi-meat product on farms that  are  supported,  the  means  of  production and technologies, etc.

       A  Bulgarian  team  of  authors,  Velchev,  Valev and  Borisov  gave  the  following  definition  of sustainable  agriculture  (1997):  ”A  modern environmentally consistent sustainable agriculture practically means a strive to achieve the potential of  high  biological  value  yields  in  a  certain agrarian  ecological  area  by  means  of  adequate farming practices that would guarantee the best economic results in a market economy and at the same  time preserve and increase soil fertility and preserve the environment"

Sustainable development of Bulgarian agriculture

       Bulgarian agriculture is undergoing a reform. It is a well known fact that the collapse of  planned  economy  and  the  accompanying  crisis had  an  extremely  strong  effect  on  agriculture. From economical point of view it's apparent that the last  years have  lead  to  a  low-productive  system  of agriculture with high capital-output ratio that made  it  dependent  on  natural  and  climatic conditions, unstable and non-competitive.

    All in all,the  sector  is  in  stagnation  and  it  does  not  comply  with  sustainability   standards.  Its economic  development  is  unstable  and  does not  even  reach  half  of  its  potential.  The demographic characterics of rural population are deteriorating. Some environmental problems persist and new ones emerge. The questi on  is whether  agriculture  advances  to  sustainable development or, on the contrary, retreats. The answer  to  this  is not optimistic because  there are  a  growing  number  of  negative  symptoms parallel to the positive:

• GDP  of  agriculture  was  stabilized  at  an average value rating well below its potential;
•  The  export  of  farm  produce  has  increased about 7x compared to 1997, which showed that the  sector  is  geting  adapted  to  the  market economy but is still far from its potential
• Labor  efficiency  is  low  and  maintains  this level;
• farmland and LTA are not used to their full capacity ,  resulting  in  the  increase  of  capital-output ratio of farm products;
• yields and productivity are low and unstable;
• the income of rural population is increasing but at a slow rate;
• the area of salinized, acidified and polluted soils is decreasing but erosion increases; manure is not properly utilized and therefore becomes an environmental pollutant.

           Bulgaria is a member of the European Union and has  adopted  the  Common  Agricultural  Policy. 

Farmers are now receiving direct payments per unit of area and are about to adopt European standards  of  quality ,  hygiene  and  humane treatment  of  animals  as  well  as  preservation of  environment  and,  moreover,  competing with  other  EU  producers.  Compliance  with the  requirements  for  sustainable  agriculture  is becoming a must and they have to be ready for this for the sake of prosperity .

 Sources:

1.Bashev,  C.,  Evaluation  of  Bulgarian  Farms Sustainability .  Agricultural  Economics  and
Management, 3, 2006.

2.Hajieva V.  Ph.D.Agriculture’s Sustainable Developmentin Bulgaria