Agriculture in Bulgaria is of strategic importance, not only because it should ensure the country's food security, provide raw materials for other sectors of the economy, but also because it should create employment and bring income to a significant part of the population in rural areas. Unfortunately, all this exists today only on paper, said Daniel Petrov from "Vazrazhdane" in a statement from the parliamentary rostrum, BTA pointed out.
We used to call our agriculture "the Bulgarian agrarian miracle", it was criminally squandered and from an exporting country, Bulgaria has become an importing country of almost everything we put on our table, Petrov noted.
The state of the subsectors related to the production of basic food products - milk, meat, vegetables and fruits - is worrying. Local meat production covers only 50% of consumption in the country, he pointed out.
There is a lasting and long-term downward trend in all fruits and vegetables, Petrov noted. In the years since Bulgaria became a member of the European Union, we have lost 75% of very small and medium-sized farms, the backbone of Bulgarian agriculture - from 500 thousand to just 130 thousand, he said.
The collapse of Bulgarian agriculture is mainly a result of the rule of GERB and DPS, commented the MP from "Vazrazhdane".
"Speaking of uncontrolled imports, we cannot fail to mention the EU agreement with Mercosur, which was rejected at this stage by the votes of the MEPs of "Vazrazhdane", as well as by the votes of the entire group of "Europe of Sovereign Nations", noted Daniel Petrov.
And today, in 2026, the data on Bulgarian agriculture are tragic - data worthy of a documentary, he commented. Immediately before our entry into the European Union, agriculture accounted for approximately 9-10% of Bulgaria's Gross Domestic Product, today the share of the agricultural sector in our economy is only 4%, said Petrov.
Since 2007, we have had a 64% decline in the number of farms, 89% of the land is concentrated in 9% of farms, 80% of subsidies are absorbed by 6% of farmers, an 81% decline in people for whom agriculture is their main activity, pointed out the MP from "Vazrazhdane". According to him, the good news is that this will not be forever. On the one hand, the pendulum of the clock of history has long reached its upper dead center and is already starting to move in the opposite direction under the influence of geopolitical factors. On the other hand, history has clearly shown that no one has been able to escape its regularity and erase the traces of their criminal activity, commented Daniel Petrov.