Founded fifteen years ago, the Bulgarian Greenhouse Growers' Association (BGGA) aims to protect the rights and interests of the greenhouse growers before public authorities and organizations, to support and encourage its members in developing effective Bulgarian greenhouse production, to unite the efforts of its members in developing fair competition, to achieve professional solidarity and interaction, and last but not least, to lobby the executive and legislative officials to support the agriculture farming.
“We help our members to find the best way to build greenhouses and then we inform them on a regular basis of the greenhouse production status in the country, of the new technological solutions and achievements in this field, of the opportunities to improve energy efficiency and of other modern solutions,” said Georgi Kamburov, the Association Executive Secretary.
There are 51 members presently who jointly own 272 hectares of greenhouse structures, producing mainly tomatoes and cucumbers. Peppers, eggplants, leafy vegetables and strawberries are grown on smaller areas. The majority of production is sold on the domestic market, with smaller amounts being exported to EU countries. The Association regularly provides its members with information about price fluctuations as well as with contacts with traders and retail chains.”
“Consumption of greenhouse vegetables increases annually,” he noted. “The imports now are higher than domestic production due to the higher energy consumption in the winter months, which increases the production cost and it cannot compete with the production of Turkey and Greece, being grown without heating costs. According to Georgi, prices rise due to lack of competition and he estimates that a kilogram of cucumbers is currently sold at about EUR 2.”
If the older greenhouses were brought up to date and if growers could improve their operations as to match the sophisticated level seen in Holland, Georgi believes that Bulgarian growers could take better advantage of winter production.
“The future is in export,” he explained. “There are countries with colder climates which lack such greenhouse cultivation. We need to improve promotion and packaging, so that we can take advantage of our productions unique taste and thus increase the exports.”
For more information:
Georgi Kamburov
Bulgarian Greenhouse Growers´Association
Tel 00359 32 968158
Email [email protected]
www.bapop.org
“We help our members to find the best way to build greenhouses and then we inform them on a regular basis of the greenhouse production status in the country, of the new technological solutions and achievements in this field, of the opportunities to improve energy efficiency and of other modern solutions,” said Georgi Kamburov, the Association Executive Secretary.
There are 51 members presently who jointly own 272 hectares of greenhouse structures, producing mainly tomatoes and cucumbers. Peppers, eggplants, leafy vegetables and strawberries are grown on smaller areas. The majority of production is sold on the domestic market, with smaller amounts being exported to EU countries. The Association regularly provides its members with information about price fluctuations as well as with contacts with traders and retail chains.”
“Consumption of greenhouse vegetables increases annually,” he noted. “The imports now are higher than domestic production due to the higher energy consumption in the winter months, which increases the production cost and it cannot compete with the production of Turkey and Greece, being grown without heating costs. According to Georgi, prices rise due to lack of competition and he estimates that a kilogram of cucumbers is currently sold at about EUR 2.”
If the older greenhouses were brought up to date and if growers could improve their operations as to match the sophisticated level seen in Holland, Georgi believes that Bulgarian growers could take better advantage of winter production.
“The future is in export,” he explained. “There are countries with colder climates which lack such greenhouse cultivation. We need to improve promotion and packaging, so that we can take advantage of our productions unique taste and thus increase the exports.”
For more information:
Georgi Kamburov
Bulgarian Greenhouse Growers´Association
Tel 00359 32 968158
Email [email protected]
www.bapop.org