Section title: 5.1.4.1 Bulgaria (BG424 Smolyan; BG425 Kardzhali)
Highlights:
The Bulgarian regions of Smolyan and Kardzhali are located in the South-Central region of Bulgaria. In a comparative paper, Doitchinova et al. (2018) compare the development in this South-Central region with the development of less-mountainous regions in North-West of Bulgaria, which includes regions as Montana, Vidin and Vratsa. In regions as Smolyan traditional family farms having mixed crops staid dominant in the agrarian structure. In the North West, however, ‘modernization’ took place at a large scale through the processes of (1) intensification, (2) specialization and (3) concentration (Doitchinova et al., 2018). Modernisation has been supported by CAP funding. Based on the comparison of Doitchinova et al. (2018) it can be concluded that the CAP is not only supporting the development of the reverse land market of few powerful tenants and many small owners in the less mountainous areas of the Bulgarian Northwest, but this development seems not to contribute towards a more sustainable rural development. Areas that are not following the path towards scale enlargement, perform better in rural development, than areas that modernize supported by the EU instruments. Source: Doitchinova, J., I. Kanchev, R. Terziyska and K. Todorova (2018) Socio-economic and environmental parameters and results of rural development under the CAP: the case of Bulgaria In M. Wigier and A. Kowalsk (eds.), The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union – the present and the future EU Member States point of view, Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute, Warsaw, 247-57.
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Category: Case study
Country: Bulgaria
NUTS1 region: BG4 South-West and South-Central Bulgaria
Type of region: Predominantly rural
Single persons role: Entrepreneur
Politician role: Providing funding
Rural development pathway: Smart Specialisation and Multifunctional Agriculture
Access to land pathway: Steering land control towards specific uses
Rural development topic adressed: Lack of economic diversity, Other, and Mobilisation of financial resources
Type of action: Other
