Despite the shortage of feed, increased yields per animal were attained in the 1960-71 period. For agriculture as a whole the output of milk per cow rose from 1,482 to 2,281 quarts, the number of eggs per hen increased from ninety-one to 115, and the amount of wool per sheep rose from 5.3 to 7.4 pounds. In 1972, however, yields per cow and per hen declined. In the socialized sector the decline in milk yield had begun in 1968 and reached serious proportions in 1972; the egg yield remained stable through 1970 (data for later years were not available in 1973). In the private sector the milk yield continued to rise at least until 1970; the egg yield remained stable through 1969 and rose in 1970. In the spring of 1973 several agricultural officials, including a deputy minister of agriculture, were reprimanded by the Council of Ministers Bureau for permitting the decline in yields of milk and eggs.

A study of milk production during the 1965-67 period found that farms having milk yields of 2,110 to 2,640 quarts per cow sustained an annual loss of 56 leva for each animal, whereas farms with yields of 3,170 to 4,287 quarts earned a net income of 111 leva per cow. The reported national average milk yield per cow therefore indicates that most farms produced milk at a loss.

The officially reported meat output increased by 74 percent in the 1960-68 period but declined by 11 percent in the next two years. By far the largest increase in production to 1968—2.9 times—was reported for beef and veal, while production of poultry meat and of sheep, and goat meat almost doubled (see table 18). The decline in output after 1968 affected all types of meat except for poultry and rabbits. For the entire period of 1960 through 1970, meat output rose by 55 percent, including production increases of 150 percent for beef and veal, 160 percent for poultry, and 82 percent for sheep and goat meat. Pork production, however, had risen by only 10 percent, and the output of rabbit meat declined by about one-third. The reported increase in meat production cannot be correlated with available data on changes in the size of livestock herds. An improvement in the supply of all types of meat other than beef and veal took place in 1971.

Production of milk and eggs also increased substantially during the 1960-71 period (see table 19). Nevertheless, domestic market supplies of livestock products remained chronically and seriously short of demand, in part because of the magnitude of exports. Exports of agricultural raw materials and processed foods exceeded 1 billion leva in 1970; they had increased 2.7 times during the decade and were equivalent to 44 percent of agriculture's contribution to the national income. Exports of food products alone had increased more than 3.5 times during the decade to a total of 732 million leva.

Table 18. Bulgaria, Production of Meat, Selected Years, 1948-71 (in thousands of tons)

Meat194819601968196919701971
Beef and veal 41 37105 94 90 85
Pork 74134194167148169
Sheep and goat meat 45 45 88 87 82 88
Poultry 17 36 70 78 93111
Other 1 4 2 2 3 4
TOTAL¹⁻²178257460428416457
Edible offals 29 50 73 65 60 64
GRAND TOTAL²208307534493476521
¹ Less offals.
² Columns may not add because of rounding.
Source: Adapted from Statistical Yearbook, 1971, Sofia, 1971, p. 127; and Statistical Yearbook, 1972, Sofia, 1972, p. 232.

Table 19. Bulgaria, Production of Milk, Eggs, and Wool, Selected Years, 1960-71

YearMilk
(thousand tons)		Cow's Milk
(thousand tons)		Raw Wool
(thousand tons)		Eggs
(million dozen)
19601,120 74421102
19671,6091,21027140
19691,5801,20528127
19701,6311,25029135
19711,6201,29030146
Source: Adapted from Statistical Yearbook, 1971, Sofia, 1971, p. 128; and Statistical Yearbook, 1972, Sofia, 1972, p. 233.