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Turkey produces 100 times more tomatoes than Bulgaria

In 2013, Turkey produced 11.82 million tonnes of tomatoes, which is a hundred times more than the entire Bulgarian production. In the same year, Bulgarian growers sold only 118,000 tonnes, while Italy, which is the largest producer of tomatoes in the EU, reported a harvest of 5.2 million tonnes. For its part, the Netherlands, which is twice as small as Bulgaria and has a far less suitable climate, reached an annual production of 855,000 tonnes of tomatoes.

These are the latest figures from Eurostat for agricultural production within the European Union, as reported by Farmer.bg.

The comparative analysis shows that Bulgaria is falling behind in the production of fruits and vegetables, which external analysts consider the result of ineffective policies.

Eurostat data provide interesting comparative picture in the production of tomatoes, carrots, onions and apples in EU countries plus Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They show that Bulgaria, which five decades ago was supplying vegetables all across the continent, has really fallen behind. Even the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania produce annually more carrots than Bulgarian growers.

Data from 2013 show that Bulgaria's annual production of carrots amounted to just 5,000 tons, while in Estonia it reached 15 thousand tonnes, and in Lithuania and Latvia it was of 52 000 and 14 000 tonnes, respectively. The Netherlands broke a record with 555,000 tonnes of carrots, and Poland also reported an outstanding record in the production of vegetables. In 2013, it produced 735,000 tonnes of carrots, 762,000 of tomatoes and 535,000 tonnes of onions.

In the cultivation of onions, Bulgaria has also been falling behind over the past 25 years, with mass imports coming from neighbouring countries. In 2013, the country produced a symbolic 13,000 tonnes, while the Netherlands, in the leading position within the EU, marketed a hundred times more onions, 1.31 million tonnes.

Only Turkey reported higher yields. In 2013, Bulgaria's southern neighbour produced over 2 million tonnes.

The collapse in the production of apples in Bulgaria continues, despite attempts by politicians to invest in rural development programmes for the fruit's expansion.

In 2013, the Bulgarian harvest amounted to only 55,000 tonnes, while in Poland, the EU's leading producer, the total harvest volume was of nearly 3 million tonnes. France and Italy, which are also major producers, reported lower yields, with 2,084 million and 2,217 million tonnes, respectively.

At the same time Turkey reported an apple production amounting to 3,128 million tonnes. Even Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a territory two times smaller than Bulgaria, is ahead with 85,000 tonnes.


Source: money.bg
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