Bulgarian Vegetable Growers See Reduction of both Acreage and Volume

The production of traditional Bulgarian vegetables, such as tomatoes, gherkins and peppers, is falling, as revealed by the annual analysis of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, reports Fresh Plaza. 

There is a collapse in both the acreage and the volume of tomatoes produced. From the 4.4 thousand hectares of 2017, only 3.9 thousand hectares remained last year. The tomato production stood at 148,000 tons, compared to 159,000 tons a year earlier.

In the case of peppers, the acreage has shrunk by 500 hectares and the domestic production has fallen from 72,000 tons in 2016 to 54,800 tons in 2017 and 51,900 tons last year.

As for Bulgarian gherkins, the acreage has been reduced by 70 hectares, while the production amounted to just 7,300 tons, compared to nearly 12,000 tons a year earlier.

Moreover, Bulgaria's cabbage production has almost halved in the last two years, having gone from 75.6 thousand tons to 47 thousand tons in 2018.

According to the producers, however, the real decline in the Bulgarian production is far greater than that shown by the official data from the Ministry. They also say that the growth in the acreage of some individual vegetables is due to the increase in subsidies for them. This is especially true of potatoes.

In that case, the data from the Ministry of Agriculture shows that the volume of potatoes harvested in Bulgaria has grown from 127 thousand tons in 2016 to 261 thousand in 2018. However, this is still far from enough to satisfy the domestic demand.