Land consolidation would favour a well-developed agricultural branch

01.12.2007

Prices are expected to grow by 20 % over the next year, Vesselin Petrov forecast, but only well-managed and well-maintained consolidated plots will gain value. 76% of the exploited agricultural land in the country is concentrated in large-scale farms of more than 10 000 hectares, which account for only 0.5% of the total number of agricultural farms in Bulgaria, Byuarhan Abazov, deputy minister of Agriculture and Food Ministry, told at a news conference held on November 28.
Bulgaria has about 5.8 million hectares of agricultural plots of land and only 3.8 million of it is cultivated this year, Vesselin Petrov executive director of ELANA Property Management, announced.
A major problem confronting Bulgarian agriculture is that land is fractured - there are about two to three million registered owners of agricultural plots, which translates into small plots and many owners. The largest landowners are municipalities (0.4 million hectares), the government (0.2 million hectares), REITs, investing in agricultural plots of land (they had a total of about 50 000 hectares in 2006, currently own about 100 000 and in 2008 are expected to get hold of 200 000 hectares). They all have to colaborate in order to achieve land consolidation, which in turn, is an expedient to developing a modern and efficient husbandry sector.
The average price of a hectare of agricultural land in Bulgaria is 2800 leva. Plots of land in Dobroudja command the highest prices nationwide (3500-4000 leva) and lands in northwestern Bulgaria sell the cheapest - 1500-2000 leva. One of the causes is that residents in these regions are migrating and selling their properties, which elevates supply and keeps prices down.

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