Analysis of the Specialization of Agricultural Holdings in Bulgaria in the Conditions of EU CAP

J. IKOVA

Abstract: The specialization of agriculture, of its sub-sectors and of the agricultural production unit is the vehicle for their development in accordance with the specific natural and economic conditions. Specialization of agricultural holdings increases their competitive power and their acceptance in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union.The purpose of this article is to bring the specialization of agricultural holdings in Bulgaria to the methodology of the EU - depending on their economic size (ES) and by economic units (EcU). Economic size reveals the potential of holdings and allows us to make comparison of agricultural holdings with different specializations. This indicator, however, does not carry enough information. That is why an indicator such as the economic unit must be introduced. The period of analysis is 2005-2010, which will allow us to follow the trends, differences and peculiarities of the development of specialization of production in four types of agricultural holdings: arable crops, vegetables, permanent crops and mixed crops. Bulgarian agriculture is dominated by small farms from the lowest class I - up to 2 Economic units. However, their number and relative share decrease during the period at hand. They are followed by the farms belonging to class II, whose number increases throughout the years. The number and relative shares of agricultural holdings from the other eight classes are also increasing, including the ones from class ІХ. The share of the latter is the smallest one (under 1%), regardless of the fact that their number increased from 380 to 1739 in 2010. For the classification of agricultural holdings by economic size measured in thousands of euros things change. In 2005 the smallest farms are leading, followed by the largest from class IX, whereas in 2010 the largest farms are leading. The data shows that the most vital and with greatest potential for development are the largest specialized agricultural holdings. The situation and development of specialization by types of farming is identical with the one for agriculture in the country in general. Small farms predominate in the four studied types of agricultural production and as a general trend specific processes of development take place. The trend we have observed is that the number of the smallest and effective agricultural holdings is declining. At the same time, the number of the largest farms is growing. This process in our country is carries out extremely slowly and exerts its negative effect on the development of Bulgarian agriculture.

Keywords: arable crops; economic size of agricultural holdings; economic unit; permanent crops and mixed crops; specialization of agricultural production; types of agricultural holdings; vegetables

Date published: 2018-02-21