 Agriculture is a traditionally strong sector of the Bulgaria's economy. Significant private investments for the past years, including those made through the EU’s SAPARD pre-accession program (grants for over EUR 300 mln for a five year period) and other subsidizing programs of the Bulgarian government, stimulate the productivity, the effectiveness and the modernization of Bulgarian agriculture. The Fund’s management forecasts for the following years an enhancement of foreign investment inflow towards Bulgarian agriculture, including the contracted subsidies for agricultural producers from EU along the lines of the Common Agricultural Policy after Bulgaria's accession to EU.
The land restitution process in Bulgaria began in 1990 and has left an extremely fragmented ownership structure across most of the country. This, along with the relatively small size of plots of agricultural land, created obstacles for effective cultivating of crops which in turn, depressed the value of the land over the last decade.
Over the last few years the liquidity of the Bulgarian land market has been experiencing a dynamic development:
| DEAL QUANTITY |
36 000 |
32 000 |
46 000 |
59 000 |
92 000 |
110 000 |
| SOLD LAND IN HECTARES |
35 000 |
35 000 |
45 000 |
56 000 |
90 000 |
106 000 |
| AVERAGE PRICE PER HECTARE IN EUR |
720 |
740 |
770 |
870 |
1020 |
1230 |
| MARKET VOLUME IN MLN EUR |
25 |
26 |
35 |
49 |
92 |
130 |
source:
The average price is based on publicly announced information from different resources as well as on own research. The price is relevant to single deals for plots of about 1 hectare each, categorized between III and V.
Land Price
The price of agricultural land varies widely depending on the region, the land category, and the lot size. The price range related to lot size can be roughly separated into two categories: prices for up to 5 hectare lots and prices for above 5 hectares lots. As of 2007, the average price for arable land lots up to 5 hectares is generally within the 900 EUR – 1 500 EUR per hectare range with some anomalies reaching 2 000 EUR per hectare in highly developed agricultural regions. In comparison the price for lots greater than 5 hectares is considerably higher and currently exceeds 1 600 EUR per hectare with some regions surpassing 2 000 EUR per hectare. The main buyers of farming land in Bulgaria include agricultural producers, and local and foreign non-institutional investors.
The following graph traces the price per hectare of agricultural land for the period 2002 – 2007 and forecasts the future value per hectare until 2010.
source: SAMI and own internet based researches
(note: the parameters in the graph below refer to the “average” lot, which belongs to the ii-iv categories with a size between 0.5-1.5 hectares. the figures stated here do not reflect prices of larger lots due to significant price fluctuations)
Forecast as of August 2008
According to the agricultural report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, Bulgaria has around 3,239,000 hectares arable agricultural land, which constitutes 60.8% of the used agricultural area and 30% of the total area of Bulgaria.
Source: http://b-info.com/places/Bulgaria/maps/
Agricultural land in Bulgaria is classified in 10 categories according to the climate, relief characteristics, productivity of the soil, and its suitability for production of different sorts of vegetable products.
The territory of each of the categories is mapped according to color on the following diagram:
- I and II category
- III and IV category
- V and VI category
- 4: VII and VIII category
- IX and X category
- non-arable land
Soil type
A great soil variety exists in Bulgaria as out of the 25 basic soil groups in the world 16 are presented in the country. More than a half of the Bulgarian territory is constituted by deep soils (53.21 %), which include cinnamon soils (10,946 square km.), grey soils (9,521 square km.), chernozems (23,000 square km.) and other types of deep soil (15,549 square km.).
Agro-Ecological Regional Map of Bulgaria
I - Chernozem soils
I1 Zlatenrogsko-Novoselski
I2 Lomsko-Svishtovski
I3 Novopazarski
I4 Kardamsko-Durnakulashki
I5 Vidinsko-Beloslatinski
I6 Plevensko-Pavlikenski
I7 Rusensko-Silistrenski
I8 Tervelski
I9 Dobrichki
I10 Balchishki
I11 Provadiiski
II - Grey brown forest soils
II1 Kulsko-Belogradchishki
II2 Montansko-Lukovitski
II3 Loveshki
II4 Popovsko-Raozgradski
II5 Isperihski
II6 Mezdrensko-Sevlievski
II7 Velikotarnovski-Preslavski
II8 Avrenski |
III - Forest soils
III1 Berkovski
III2 Botevgradsko-Gabrovski
III3 Elensko-Smiadovski
IV - Smolnitzi and Cinnamon forest soils
IV1 Sofiisko-Pernishki
IV2 Kustendilski
IV3 Karlovski-Kazanlashki
IV4 Sungurlarski
IV5 Srednogorski Rodopski podnojia
IV6 Novozagorski
IV7 Slivensko-Straldjanski
IV8 Pazardjishko-Plovdivski
IV9 Chirpinsko-Yambolski
IV10 Haskovski
IV11 Karnobatsko-Burgaski
IV12 Grudovsko-Sozopolski |
V - Cinnamon forest soils
V1 Petrichko-Sandanski
V2 Gocedelchevski
V3 Razlojki
V4 Kardjaliiski
V5 Topolovgradsko-Fakiiski
V6 Malkotarnovski
VI - Brown forest soils
VI1 Petrohanski
VI2 Srednostaroplaninski
VI3 Transko-Osogovski
VI4 Ogravdanski
VI5 Samokovsko-Srednogorski
VI6 Rilo-Pirinski
VI7 Rodopski
VII - Alluvial mountain soils
VII1 Visokoplaninski
VII2 Visoko-Rilo-Pirinski
VII3 Visoko-Osogovski |
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