Transition and EU Integration of Bulgarian Agriculture - Impacts for Environment and Sustainability

Abstract

This paper presents major environmental challenges in Bulgarian agriculture, and identifies and assesses specific modes for environmental governance in farming sector, and estimate prospects for changing environmental performance of farms in conditions of EU integration and Common Agricultural Policy implementation. We adapt the framework of the New Institutional and Transaction Costs Economics, and assess efficiency of diverse market, private and public modes for environmental governance. The post-communist transformation of agriculture has changed environmental situation and brought some new challenges such as: degradation and contamination of farmland, pollution of surface and ground waters, distracting biodiversity, significant greenhouse gas emissions etc. Badly defined and enforced environmental rights, prolonged process of privatization of agrarian resources, carrying farming in structures not motivating in long-term investment, high uncertainty and assets specificity and low frequency and appropriability of environment related transactions, all they are responsible for failure of market and private modes of environmental governance. Needs for public intervention has not been met by effective Government, community, international assistance etc. intervention, and agrarian sustainability has been compromised. Analysis of likely impact of CAP implementation in "Bulgarian" conditions shows that chief beneficiary of various new support measures will be the biggest operators, and income, technological and environmental discrepancy between different farms, sub-sectors and regions will be further enlarged.

Keywords: market, private, public and hybrid modes of agrarian and environmental governance, development of farming structures, impact of agriculture on environment, impact of EU integration and CAP implementation, Bulgaria

JEL Classification: O13, O17, P32, O18, Q10, Q18, Q20, Q24, Q25, D23