How did you achieve this success?

Our machinery is modern and highly productive, but the optimized organization of the production process is the key for effective work. It’s related to keeping agricultural terms, which requires reliable and highly productive machinery. Two years ago, “Agrotida” started using Integrated Food Quality and Safety Management System in conformity with the requirements of ISO 9001 and HACCP (ISO 22000). The company is growing thanks to investments in production process, like quality machines. Of course, along with them, a key factor turns out to be the human factor. About 40 people work in our company, but not everyone is directly involved in the production process. We cultivate the farmlands of 12 villages and that’s why we keep two buses, we have 6 guards and although it sounds paradoxical, we hire extra 30 people to guard the corn because we should not only cultivate it, but also preserve it. Our mechanics are 13-14 people, including those working in the repair shop and the grain drying systems.

What are your results for 2007?

Our average yield of rape was 405 kg/da, of wheat – 325 kg/da; of sunflower – 180 kg/da and of corn – 190 kg/da. Despite the drought we ploughed every single decare and I can proudly announce that we have avoided the problem ‘ruined crop’.

What is your dream when production process is concerned?

Our ambitions are oriented towards the effective use of the whole farmland that we own. Unfortunately, at this stage only 1/3 of our lands can be watered. A possible option is drilling the subsoil waters which will allow us to irrigate 10 000 da farmlands, but an investment of 2 million leva is necessary for the realization of such project. Only then we can talk about effective farming – the yield of the corn will be 1 ton per decare and we will have 10 000 tons of production, which will lead respectively to price reduction. We are an agricultural country, but we import grain instead of using to the limit our own resources. However the latter is impossible until the Land Act is changed.

What is your attitude towards receiving subsidies?

All members of the EU subsidize their production, but the application procedure in Bulgaria suffers from lack of organization, and our personal experience proves it – we alone develop our projects in line with the programme SAPARD and, honestly speaking, we encountered many difficulties. Some measures should be taken in order to make the procedure easier, which will help considerably the agricultural producers.

Now the problem arises that a company cannot develop an activity in agriculture without qualified experts.

I think that our company has at its disposal the necessary staff: of the total, 6 persons have a university degree, including me as an economist, 2 agriculturalists, and our two accountants also have a university degree. Our mechanic has a secondary school degree, but he is competent enough. Our team is stable – there is no workforce turnover of experts or other staff in the company, because we pay well for a well done job.

Now everyone is talking about the extra payments.

We hope that there will be a national co-financing, but unfortunately we have a number of concerns. We insist on receiving the amount that we are entitled to in order to be competitive. As far as the climatic conditions are concerned we are in a weaker position. If every producer had performed 10-12 drillings and of course irrigated too, then the results would have been different. Watering is crucial to Bulgarian agriculture and we should work hard in this direction. For instance, in Greece the yield of corn was 1 700 kg/da, and here –around 105 kg/da. The same applies to other crops. In Bulgaria it is necessary that the state interferes because great part of the rivers and reservoirs are state property as well as the irrigating systems. Where drillings are necessary we will take care of them. But we must be sure that we will use them. There are possible ways to do this: by signing contract with the owners for 20 years; the leaseholder could be the first buyer of the land in case of sale; we could switch to regrouping of land where big companies could work, etc. There are different mechanisms that can be used, but it’s important that a new strategy for solving the problem with irrigation is developed and followed.

Do you produce seeds? What kind of seeds do you use?

We use Bulgarian sorts: corn – sort “Knezha”, Corn Institute in Knezha; sunflower – sort “San Luka”, Institute “Dobrudzha” in General Toshevo. The customers also know us on the market as distributors of RAPS GbR – SAATEN UNION for rape, imported from Germany, as we realize the future prospects of the energy crops. The rape is a very beneficial crop in this regard. But it’s necessary to have the right knowledge, machinery and professionalism for this job in order to know precisely when to seed the rape and of course it’s necessary to have quality machinery, especially seeders, in order to do everything in the right way. With our experience, professionalism and technical equipment we fully comply with the requirements for grain production and this is the secret of our success.

Let us know a bit more about the rape – what kind of machinery do you use for cultivation, who buys the rape production, does the company take part in the process of extracting canola oil?

Rape is gradually becoming a significant crop in Bulgaria. In my opinion the producers don’t pay much attention to this question. There are some special aspects here that must be observed and the results will come quickly afterwards. They include: 1) good seeds; 2) precise equipment and 3) excellent technology. At present the company distributes the best seeds of RAPS GbR – Germany. They guarantee excellent results. Whereas the market in Bulgaria as well as that in Europe is hungry for this good.

What are the prospects for grain production for next year?

In the coming years I see only one prospect and it includes better production per area unit. For this purpose Bulgaria should build irrigating systems and should change the law in this respect without any further delays, because it is an obstacle in the competition with our European colleagues.