In a country with a high share of rural population, sustainable rural development (and in particular organic farming) is one strategy to reduce economic and social disparities.
Content and objectives of the project:
The aim of the study is to analyse the dynamics of the general and the organic farming institutions and to explore organic farming as a specific form of entrepreneurship for increasing resilience in rural Bulgaria. Network analysis will be applied to explore the policy actors’ relationships of 1) the network that has developed between all institutions and organizations active in the organic sector, and 2) the policy network in which organic farming policy making takes place. To put the Bulgarian situation into perspective with other countries, our study will compare the institutional development of the organic sector in Bulgaria with that of other European countries. Finally, in a case-study approach, we will investigate the entrepreneurial biographical trajectories, economic and political barriers for organic entrepreneurship and their origins in the legacies of the socialist past and in the specifics of post socialist transformations.
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds SNF
Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski
