14. Agricultural policy in the context of the development of agricultural tourism in Bulgaria

Author: Ivan Kilimperov

DOI: n/a

Resume

Agricultural production is one of the basic economic activities in Bulgarian villages. As a result of the agricultural reforms carried out in Bulgaria, our agriculture has acquired a dual structure – on the one hand, there are a great number of small-scale producers and on the other hand – there are huge rental farms and cooperatives.
All this has an adverse effect on the economic performance of the activity – small farms operate at increased production costs, their access to the market and EU funds is limited. Reforms are needed in terms of both the organization of these farms and agricultural policy of the country in order to encourage the development of agricultural tourism and the improvement of the financial and economic indicators of family farms. This is the purpose of the presentation – to track the changes in the agricultural policy of the country and on this basis to make a constructive suggestion regarding the development of agricultural tourism.
The main idea is to reveal some of the basic issues facing the small and medium-sized family business in agriculture and to track the possibilities of agricultural tourism for their overcoming. The joint development of agriculture and tourism, in turn, is one of the „formulas“ for creating sustainable family farms that can be considered part of the toolbox for acquiring sustainable development in rural areas in Bulgaria.