In the space of 15 years, from 2005 until 2020, 75% of the farms in the country have disappeared – from 500,000 in 2005 down to 132,000 in 2020, said Prof. Dr. Bozhidar Ivanov, Director of the Institute of Agrarian Economics at an international scientific conference “Agrarian economics in support of agriculture”.

In an interview with the BNR he stated that the development of Bulgarian agriculture is uneven. In sectors like grain production and oilseed crops there have been achievements. But in dairy, meat, vegetables and fruit, the market share of local produce is going down. This is so because the subsidies are not connected with the production – since 2007 and the country’s accession to the EU, the subsidies have been connected with area rather than production, with equal subsidies per unit of area for all producers. This, Bozhidar Ivanov says, leads to distortions.