site.btaBulgaria Spends BGN Several Billion Every Year on Seed Imports, Risks Becoming a Wasteland in a Crisis

Bulgaria spends BGN several billion every year on the purchase of imported seeds, said in an interview with BTA Prof DSci Nikolay Tsenov, breeder of dozens of wheat varieties, most of which have sonorous female Bulgarian names. 

According to Prof. Tsenov, Bulgaria plants 11 million decares of wheat, almost 9 million decares of sunflowers, between 4 and 6 million decares of corn and about 1 million decares of barley, or about 25 million decares in total, but the share of Bulgarian seeds used is very small.

In its good years, the Institute of Wheat and Sunflower, now under the name of Dobrudzha Agricultural Institute - General Toshevo, used to sell five thousand tons of wheat seeds a year.

If the current critical situation is prolonged, under the conditions of war, one or two years of no seed imports would have a devastating effect on Bulgaria as there will be no seeds to sow the fields, and they will become a wasteland, the scientist said.

His advice to the government is to create the necessary conditions for scientific activity at a modern technological level. This is the only way for the future Bulgarian varieties and hybrids to be properly competitive and in demand by farmers in all agricultural crops in Bulgaria, the scientist said.