Agriculture

Agriculture was Bulgaria’s leading economic sector during the communist era. The restitution of property, however, led to the fragmentation of the land and a consequent crisis in the sector. Now, with the help of SAPARD funds and the active government policy, agriculture is gradually being revived, but it still has to execute a number of reforms in order to meet European Union criteria. The European Commission lists Bulgarian agriculture among the areas needing further reform. Main cause for concern was the evidence of misuse of SAPARD programme funds allocated to Bulgarian companies. The country has to take active anti-corruption measures in view of the increased amount of SAPARD funds it will receive in 2007. According to the signed agreements, Bulgaria will receive more than 1.5 billion leva in 2007. Apart from tightened control over SAPARD funds management, the agricultural sector also needs additional modernisation to comply with EU standards. The government is working on stricter veterinary control. To meet EU criteria, the sector should continue working on food safety, quality standards and humane treatment of farm animals. Bulgaria is a leading international producer of wine, tobacco, wheat, rose oil, vegetables and fruit. Just like any other agriculture sector, the country's wine industry faced many problems due to land privatisation after the fall of the communist regime. The industry is gradually reviving and again gaining world recognition. This country offers a large choice of varietals from five different wine regions, its most popular ones being cabernet sauvignon, merlot, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. Bulgaria has some noteworthy indigenous varieties like mavroud, melnik, gamza and roubin. One of the industry’s main aims is to popularise these unique varieties and make a breakthrough on the European market by offering quality rather than quantity.The 80 large Bulgarian wineries sell their quality products to the UK, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Russia and even Japan. One of the reasons for the popularity of Bulgarian wine is not only its high quality, but also the Vinaria wine fair, which occurs annually in Plovdiv and is used for worldwide advertising of new products and technologies. The tobacco industry has developed mainly in the south-eastern regions of Bulgaria, where it still provides occupation for the larger part of the citizens, most of whom are of Turkish origin. Tobacco production in Bulgaria is artificially low because demand fell after Bulgaria lost its guaranteed markets with the end of the Soviet Union. Now, the industry is awaiting the conclusion of the privatisation of Bulgartabac. This company is the largest tobacco producer in the country with several cigarette factories, a filter and printing materials production facility, several joint ventures abroad and 12 leaf-processing plants. It is hoped that the privatisation will revive Bulgaria's tobacco industry, which is still not at a competitive level with its neighbours Turkey and Greece.Bulgaria closed Chapter Agriculture of its EU accession treaty on June 4 2007. European Commission (EC) suggested Bulgaria’s quota for tobacco production to exceed 45 000 tons of tobacco. To define the quota the EC took into consideration the figures for the amount of tobacco purchased over the past several years.