Suchergebnisse

The present article suggests a holistic framework for defining, evaluating and improving the governance of agroecosystem services in Bulgaria. The interdisciplinary Theory of Ecosystem Services and the New Institutional Economy are adapted, and an attempt made to define the governance of agroecosystem services, to identify its agents, forms and mechanisms, to formulate an adequate criterion for evaluating its efficiency, and to characterize the stages for its analysis and improvement. The proposed new approach is based on the building up of a hierarchy of agroecosystems and services related to its different levels, as well as an assessment of the system of governance that corresponds to each level of provision of agroecosystem services.

The specific system of governance is a critical factor, which to a great extent (pre)determines the type and speed of development in different countries, industries, regions, communities, etc. This article applies the New Institutional Economics framework (which is interdisciplinary and combines Economics, Organization, Sociology, Law, Political and Behavioral Sciences) and assesses the specific effects of the major components of the "external" institutional environment on the agrarian sustainability level in Bulgaria in different administrative, geographical and ecological regions, subsectors of agriculture and farms of various juridical type and size.

A holistic framework is applied on and assessment is made of sustainability of farms of Natural (Physical) Persons in Bulgaria. A framework of study is presented and overall characteristics of surveyed farms are outlined. Assessment is made on integral, governance, economic, social, and environmental sustainability of farms as a whole, and of different size, production specialization, and ecological and geographical location. Factors for improving sustainability of farms are identified, and directions for further research and amelioration of assessment practices in the sector are suggested.

This paper suggests a holistic approach for analyzing, assessing and improving the system of eco-management in the modern stage of development of Bulgarian agriculture as a specific system for governing human activity for protection of natural environment. The principal mechanisms and modes of agro-eco- management are specified, the factors for agro-eco-management are identified and stages in improvement are described, which is perceived as a permanent, not a temporary process. Approaches and indicators for assessment are proposed, aiming at minimizing the overall costs for eco-management. The goal is to facilitate the interdisciplinary analyses and estimations in this sphere in order to contribute to improve the social policies, the forms of social intervention and public ecoprograms, as well as the individual, business and collective strategies and activities for sustainable development of this sector under the conditions of a dynamically changing social, economic, institutional and natural environment.

This paper presents the results of the first large-scale study on forms, factors, and efficiency of eco-management in Bulgarian agricultural farms of different juridical type, size, specialization, and location. First, a brief characterization of surveyed "eco-active" farms is made, analyzing the various forms and scope of eco-management in agricultural farms. Next, different factors of eco- management in farms are specified along with the costs, effects, efficiency and perspectives of eco-management in agricultural farms. Finally, conclusions from the study are summarized.

In an effort to fill the existing gap regarding the definition of the competitiveness of agricultural holdings and the ways to measure it, the present research applies a holistic approach in the assessment of the competitiveness of agricultural holdings in Bulgaria as a whole, as well as in terms of their different specialization. Despite its importance and the continuing debates on the topic, there is still no consensus on what the competitiveness of farms is; how to measure the competitiveness of different organizations in agriculture; what the absolute and comparative competitiveness of different types of farms is; which are the critical factors for increasing the competitiveness at the current stage of development, etc. The multi-criteria assessment found that although the level of competitiveness of Bulgarian farms is overall good, more than a third of all farms in the country show a low level of competitiveness. This can largely be attributed to their low adaptive potential and economic efficiency. The most competitive farms are those specializing in the beekeeping sector, followed by field crops, mixed livestock and mixed crop production, while farms specializing in grazing livestock are the least competitive. The proposed approach should be improved and applied more widely and periodically, increasing its accuracy and representativeness. The latter requires close cooperation with producer organizations, the National Agricultural Advisory Service (NAAS) and other stakeholders, as well as improvements to the agricultural information collection system in the country.

Impacts of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan on country's agriculture (farms and agrarian resources) and food sector are assessed. The extent of radioactive contamination of agri-food products is presented. Effects on markets, consumers and international trade are evaluated. Responses of different agents are summed up, progress and challenges in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction assessed, and lessons from the Japanese experiences withdrawn.

The ecosystem approach has been widely incorporated in the management and evaluation of agrarian sustainability. Despite enormous progress in this new evolving area, still there is no consensus on how to assess the sustainability of agro-ecosystems due to the diversity in understandings, approaches, methods, employed data, etc. In Bulgaria there are no comprehensive studies on the integral, socio-economic and ecological sustainability of the different types of agro-ecosystems. This paper makes a first attempt at assessing the sustainability of agro-ecosystems in Bulgaria. Initially, a holistic framework for assessing the integral, economic, social and ecological sustainability of agro-ecosystems, which includes 17 principles, 35 criteria, and 46 indicators and reference values, is suggested. After that, the integral and the multi-aspect sustainability of 7 generic and 10 specific agro-ecosystems in Bulgaria are assessed. The estimates are based on first-hand information collected by the managers of "typical" farms operating in different agro-ecosystems in 4 geographical regions of the country. The study has found out that there is a substantial variation in the level of integral and multi-aspect sustainability of the different types of agro-ecosystems, as well as in the level of contribution to the sustainability of various sub-sectors of agriculture and farms of different juridical type and size, where the individual indicators with the highest and lowest values show the (critical) factors which enhance or deter sustainability.