Prospects for Development of Sunflower Production in Bulgaria

Sunflower is the main oilseed crop for our country, occupying about 85% of the area of industrial crops. The oil made from sunflower seeds has high taste quality and it is used in everyday life, food and pharmaceutical industries. The sunflower cake and meal are additional products from the processing that are valuable concentrated feed for all livestock. Broad application, favorable soil and climatic conditions, biological features of the crop, technological level of production and established market prices are a prerequisite for achieving a relatively good level of profitability. This determines the importance of the crop for the economic condition of agriculture and country’s economy. The purpose of this study is on the basis on analysis of empirical data to assess the prospects of sunflower production in Bulgaria. With a view to realize this purpose the paper is organized in three parts. First, the state of sunflower production in Bulgaria is analyzed for the period 1980-2009. Second, the main differences in the systems of economic functioning during the period are derived from the position of their impact on sunflower production and finally the main problems facing producing sunflower farmers are outlined and the potential for future development is estimated.