DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORGANIC SECTOR IN POST-SOCIALIST BULGARIA 1990-2013

Summary

The aim of the paper is to present the socio-economic and political aspects in the development of organic sector in post-socialist Bulgaria. It will question the building up of the organic concept in terms of national policies, farming practices and market forces in the country.
That topic has its scientific relevance at least in three crucial dimensions. Firstly, because the legacy of the socialist system significantly affected the structure of the agricultural sector as well as the entrepreneurial behavior of the rural population under conditions of transition. Secondly, the analysis is important because it helps to identify the internal (national) and the external (out of the national context) driving forces that influence the development of the organic sector in Bulgaria. Thirdly, the organic sector comprises different economic activities, it’s not only about producing but also processing, trading, exporting, importing. In other words, economic considerations are crucial while building this new concept. Nor less of relevance is the fact that despite the unquestionable importance of the organic sector for achieving sustainable rural development, that phenomenon has not yet been subject to a lot of scientific research in Bulgaria. The paper will challenge this research gap and will present a comprehensive analysis of the development Bulgarian organic sector and the processes that influence the building up of the organic concept in a post-socialist context.
The paper is supported by the Swiss Enlargement Contribution in the framework of the Bulgarian-Swiss Research Programme through the Project “Addressing socio-economic regional disparities: the potential of organic farming for strengthening rural areas in Bulgaria”. The results presented in this paper are based of qualitative and quantitative research data gathered during the first 16 months of the Project through 1) 22 semi-structures in-depth interviews with key informants working in the areas of organic farming research, organic farming associations, environmental and consumer organizations, retail, policy decision-makers, extension and administration; 2) Policy document analyses, desk-top analyses of relevant literature and other public resources and 3) network analysis of more than 20 network interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire.