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Bulgaria

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Consulting services for farmers. (c) Bioselena

Organic agriculture

General

Statistics

According to data provided for the global organic survey by Bioselena, at the end of 2007, 13'646 hectares were managed organically by 240 producers (Source: Ministry of Agriculture).

This constituted 0,3 % of the agricultural land in the country.

Most of the agricultural land was used for arable and permanent crops.

More than half of this land - 8'387 hectares - were fully converted.

In addition to the agricultural land there were almost 400'000 hectares of wild collection areas.

  • Source: FiBL 2009

Production & exports

According to Bioselena,  Bulgaria is one of the largest exporters of dried wild herbs.

Furthermore Bulgaria exports frozen raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. 

Other important products are honey in large quantities, as well as essential oils, such as rose, lavender and mint.

The export markets are in Europe, but also North America and Japan.

Source:

Market

According to Stoilko Apostolov, President of Bioselena Foundation, in 2008 a survey was carried out, outlining  the state of the organic product market and its turnover in Bulgaria in 2008.

The survey showed that:

  • Tthe turnover with organic products is increasing.
  • There are 733 different organic products.
  • 657 of them are various kinds of foods; the remaining number is cosmetics or house-cleaning organic products.
  • Only 7% of the total number of organic products on sale were manufactured in Bulgaria.
  • The total turnover of biological products for 2008 was nearly 4 million Euros. If the the data of retailers, who did not  participate in the survey, are included, that figure may reach 4.5 million Euros, according to Apostolov.

Source

Labelling

Bulgarian organic logo

According to a survey carried out on the organic market in Bulgaria, a number of Bulgarian organic products carry a logo with a green leaf and a ladybird with the words “Certified Bulgarian Organic Product”. 

Source

Government support

In the national plan for development of organic farming in Bulgaria, it is stipulated that by 2013, 8% of agricultural land in the country should be used to produce organic foods and 3% of the sold foods should be organic products.

According to Stoilko Apostolov of Bioselena, the agriculture sector needs more serious state support in order to meet that target.

European funds allocated to organic agriculture until 2013, amount to 80 euros per hectare of meadows and grazing grounds and 512 euros per hectare for vineyards, orchards, and plots for the production of ethereal oils and vegetables. Farmers can apply for EU subsidies under the Rural Development Programme.

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