Bulgaria sees great potential in organic farming: official

Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Vassil Groudev said here on Wednesday that organic farming was among the ministry's priorities for the next five years.

"The truth is that organic farming is an exceptional opportunity for Bulgaria to be competitive not only in Europe but also globally," Groudev said while addressing a national round-table on production and marketing of Bulgarian agriproducts.

It was crucial for Bulgarian agriculture to develop this profitable niche in a way that would allow competitive positioning in the global market, Groudev said.

"Bulgaria has all the prerequisites to do it," he said.

There were many financial instruments, and his ministry has allocated 150 million euro (some 165 million U.S. dollars) by 2020 to directly support organic producers, Groudev said.

According to the national Agrarian Report 2014, organic farming in the country has been developing rapidly during the last several years.

As of the end of 2013, the total number of organic producers, processing parties and traders registered in Ministry of Agriculture and Food was 3,123, or 1,107 more compared to the previous year, and increased more than eight times in comparison with 2009 when the new European legislation in the field of organic farming has been applied.

Bulgarian farmers were specially interested in growing orchards, nuts, vineyards, oil-bearing rose, aromatic crops, medicinal plants and spices, as well as breeding bees, the report said. Endit