Crops
With the exception of rye, potatoes, hemp, and cotton, output of all major crops increased substantially in the 1960s (see table 16). The production of rye declined sharply as a result of the diversion of rye acreage to the production of more valuable crops. By 1970 rye output had become insignificant—less than 1 percent of the volume of wheat produced in that year. The decline in potato production was minor, but the output of raw cotton declined by 15 percent. The largest increases were attained in the production of alfalfa and table grapes—crops that are important for livestock production and export, respectively. Barley output, important for livestock and beer production, rose by 82 percent. Wheat output surpassed 3 million tons in 1970; it reached 3.56 million tons in 1972.
Table 16. Bulgaria, Production of Major Crops, Annual Average,
Selected Years, 1958-60 to 1966-70, and 1970 (in thousands of tons)
| Crops | Average 1958-60 | Average 1961-65 | Average 1966-70 | 1970 |
| Wheat | 2,376 | 2,208 | 2,919 | 3,032 |
| Rye | 97 | 58 | 35 | 28 |
| Barley | 542 | 694 | 986 | 1,167 |
| Corn (grain) | 1,298 | 1,601 | 2,147 | 2,375 |
| Sunflower seeds | 281 | 338 | 462 | 407 |
| Hemp (dry stem) | 62 | 49 | 62 | 55 |
| Cotton (raw) | 54 | 39 | 46 | 36 |
| Tobacco (oriental) | 77 | 101 | 109 | 112 |
| Sugar beets | 1,328 | 1,440 | 1,862 | 1,714 |
| Tomatoes | 525 | 738 | 716 | 685 |
| Potatoes | 383 | 400 | 380 | 374 |
| Alfalfa | 598 | 951 | 1,443 | 1,719 |
| Apples | 265 | 315 | 402 | 363 |
| Grapes | 721 | 1,006 | 1,133 | 884 |
| (Table grapes) | (135) | (267) | (313) | (263) |
| Source: Adapted from Statistical Yearbook, 1971, Sofia, 1971, pp. 120-122. | ||||
Virtually all wheat grown in the country is a hard red winter wheat of good quality, somewhat softer than durum wheat. Cultivation of durum wheat has been almost completely abandoned because of its low yield. The possibility has been suggested, however, that production of durum may be resumed eventually on the basis of newly developed, more productive varieties. Durum wheat requirements for the manufacture of noodles, semolina, and other products have been imported against payment in foreign currencies.
Increases in the output and yields of crops were reported to have been achieved through the introduction of improved plant varieties and seeds, better cultivation practices, expanded irrigation, greater use of fertilizers, and more effective disease and pest control. The supply of fertilizers to agriculture, in terms of plant nutrients, increased from about 49,000 tons in 1956 to 842,000 tons in 1968 but thereafter declined sharply to only 692,000 tons in 1969 and 635,000 tons in 1971. In 1972 the fertilizer supply improved by a mere 10,000 tons. The bulk of the decline was in phosphates and potash, imports of which were drastically curtailed after 1968, presumably because of the shortage of foreign exchange.
The supply of pesticides also depends very largely upon imports. Deliveries to agriculture rose from less than 10,000 tons in 1960 to almost 12,900 tons in 1965, declined to 11,150 tons in 1969, and then surpassed the 1965 supply by 300 tons in 1971. The need for a drastic increase in the use of pesticides and fungicides is indicated by the official estimate that annual losses from crop diseases, pests, and weeds amount to from 150 to 200 million leva.
Despite the progress made, agricultural technicians continue to call attention to the persistence of faulty practices in all phases of crop production—practices that tend to lower crop yields and retard agricultural growth. Traditionally a single variety of wheat has been grown throughout the entire country, despite variations in soil and climatic conditions. Although yields generally rose with the successive introduction of better varieties, they remained low and of inferior quality in areas poorly adapted for the cultivation of a particular variety. Specialists have stressed the need for diversification of varieties, particularly under conditions of regionally defined agroindustrial complexes.
A task force for scientific and technical aid to agriculture, formed by the government at the end of 1965, uncovered the appearance and rapid dispersion of new grain diseases. Dry rot, which had assumed significant proportions in 1961, caused the most severe losses of wheat in 1970 and 1971, when 1.2 million acres were affected by the disease, mainly in the northern grain-growing part of the country. Wheat flower blight, long known in Bulgaria, became particularly widespread in 1965 after the introduction of a new wheat variety highly susceptible to that disease. Losses from this source reached about 15 to 20 percent.
Propagation of diseases has been aided by faulty cultivation practices. Excessively heavy seeding has been used increasingly to compensate for inadequate soil preparation. The resultant overly thick stands of grain are prone to lodging, which facilitates the spread of disease through greater contact of the wheatstalks. The tendency to lodging and, thus, to the spreading of disease is also encouraged by the improper use of fertilizers. To compensate for the shortage of phosphatic fertilizers an erroneous practice has developed of increasing the application of nitrogenous fertilizers, thereby upsetting the proper balance of plant nutrients. The resultant excessive vegetative growth weakens the grain stalks and induces lodging of the grain. Lodging also causes heavy losses through the germination of kernels and through major difficulties in harvesting.