Bulgaria with the largest growth in organic farming in the EU
The organic farming in Bulgaria area has grown by 35% for six years
Bulgaria has achieved the largest growth of organic farming in the EU in recent years. This is shown by the official data of the EC published at the end of last week. By the end of 2016, over 12 million hectares of organic production are grown in the EU, with an increase in all Member states except the UK, according to the so-called context indicators of the Common Agricultural Policy by 2020. However, according to the analysed data, the rapid growth of this segment of agriculture has no impact on the employment in Europe. Employees in this production are declining regardless of the growth of organic production areas.
The latest EC data on agriculture show that by 2016 organic areas in the EU have reached 12 million hectares in all EU countries. So they already have a share of 6.7% of all arable land. The growth of the organic segment is remarkable - an increase of over 30% was recorded between 2010 and 2016, with the annual rate of 4.4%.
EC data also show that Bulgaria is the country with the highest growth in bio-production. Between 2010 and 2016 the increase of the organic farming territory is 35%. The next two countries with the highest increase are France and Cyprus with 10%. For the period between 2010 and 2016 only the UK has seen a decline in organic production - about 30%, according to the results.
EC data also show that employment in agriculture has slightly declined - in 2016 there were 8.9 million people working in the sector, while a year earlier they were 200 thousand more. Decline in employment is also a noitcable trend in the organic production segment. The workforce was 3.9% of all people employed in agriculture, while a year earlier this share was 4.2%. According to 2016 data, most workers in the organic sector are in Romania, Greece and Poland where their share varies between 10 and 22%.
Source: Capital, 16 January 2018;