Bureaucracy and climate change are shrinking Bulgarian organic production

published on 8/14/25 11:50 AM

Photo: BGNES

On the world map of organic agriculture, Bulgaria is not just a dot, but a colorful mosaic of food products, carrying the aroma and taste of unspoiled nature. Our organically certified areas produce crops sought after around the world – essential oil plants for the global perfume industry, wild herbs from the clean mountain slopes, honey with unique flavor nuances, organically grown fruits and grapes for wine…

But the paradox is that while the organic product market in Bulgaria is growing, while we export significant amounts of raw materials across borders, domestic producers are slowly giving way under the pressure of climate change and bureaucracy. Albena Simeonova, chairwoman of the Bulgarian Association "Bioproducts", clarifies the topic:

"In world practice, there are two concepts - a conventional product and an organic product. We have heard about various grandmother's or grandfather's products from the mountains, about "authentic" or "natural" taste... But this falls into the category of conventional. An organic product is one in the production of which no pesticides, chemical fertilizers and GMOs are used. How is this proven? Analyses are carried out on the soil, plants, fruits... The customer can find out whether the product is organic by the label, depicting a green leaf with 12 stars in green or black. I myself am an organic producer of wine and dessert grapes and I produce wine, so there are several wineries in Bulgaria that produce organic wines."

Despite our good reputation in world markets, only about 2% of arable land in Bulgaria is certified as organic. This is a sharp decline from 5% a decade ago. And while the conventional farmer freely resorts to chemicals against damage from hail or drought, the organic farmer's only protection against the increasing natural disasters is the expensive and not always effective so-called biological plant protection. And the forecasts for this year's harvest are not at all optimistic.

"It is true that climate change has the greatest impact on the productivity of organic products. And not only the lack of irrigation of the soil due to drought, but also acid rains, Saharan winds, etc. This affects us extremely adversely, because we do not use any chemistry. But no less serious is the problem with bureaucracy and administrative burden - mountains of documents, certifications, inspections, reports, etc. And also - in order to officially become an organic producer, you go through a "transition period" of 2-3 years. During this time, you work according to all organic requirements, your yield is lower, but... you sell at conventional prices, because you do not yet have a certificate. That is - you spend more, earn less and wait," says Albena Simeonova.

Between 80-90% of domestic organic production goes to countries such as Germany, the Scandinavian countries or the UK, but in the form of raw materials. Thus, sunflowers from Dobrudja are processed in the Netherlands and turned into organic vegetable paste, and raspberries from the Rhodope Mountains - into organic jam made in Germany. "Whether it's sunflowers, wheat, peppers, etc., they will be processed there into lyutenitsa or juices and brought here for 5 euros, instead of 5 leva," explains Albena Simeonova and adds:

"And I would like to draw the attention of politicians - help the Bulgarian organic producers to process the production from their own farms through a specialized measure - as was the case with a previous program worth about 20 million leva, which led to a boom in the organic sector. Support for the construction of small workshops would enable farmers to produce their own wine, jam and other value-added products."

And yet there is hope - young people in Bulgaria are increasingly looking for organic food produced in Bulgaria. "Because they are delicious, healthy, protect the environment and, last but not least, create employment - almost everything is done by hand here," summarizes Albena Simeonova and calls on people to choose Bulgarian organic production.

Read also:

English version: R. Petkova
Photos: Facebook / Bulgarian Association of Bioproducts, Facebook / Albena Simeonova, BTA

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