Development of Organic Farming in Bulgaria Highlights

Dilyana Mitova

Abstract: Organic farming (OF) is one of the sectors that best meets the objectives of the Common Agricultu-ral Policy (CAP) and the Rural Development Program (RDP) – economic efficiency, environmental pro-tection and social responsibility. The evolution of the sector can be linked to major drivers such as the support provided to the sector, market developments as well as a “facilitating” environment (extension services, vocational training, agronomic research, etc.). This study has the aim to gi-ve a contemporary picture of Bulgarian organic farming – its development from the 2007 till nowa-days; to underline some problems and to raise attention on some possible future scenarios. Analy-sis is based on the data from Eurostat and MAFF, the methods used are quantitative and qualitative research methods, comparative analysis. Among all that can be done for supporting and promoting OF the most important is to implement declared policy priority in favor of OF, improve the dialogue
between organic farmers and institutions, developing a national strategy (plan) for OF. Support for OF must be continuous, not accidental. The study envisages also the possible consequences (effects) of an increase in areas with organic farming by 25% by 2030, as part of the Green Deal policy.

Keywords: comparison; effects; Organic Farming; prospects; share; support

Date published: 2021-03-25