A drastic decrease in corn areas is observed in Dobrudja during the current farming season. The main reason for their decrease by over 43 percent is the drought in the last few years. At this point, the spring crop is developing very well, thanks to the rainfall this year, but this is more of an exception and farmers are looking for alternatives in the future, reports Nova TV.
Only three years ago, corn shared the same field as wheat in Golden Dobrudja.
The president of the Dobrudja Union of Grain Producers, Radostina Zhekova, says: "Dobrudja had reached over 1 million decares of land that was sown with corn. Unfortunately, we are currently moving between 300 and 400 thousand decares, which is really a big reduction".
Nona Vasileva's family farm manages 20,000 decares of land in the Shabla municipality. For the first time, only 2,000 of them are sown with corn.
"We have reached 10% corn cultivation. We cannot say what the areas with corn will be next year, because from now on we are already relying on security and irrigation, which we hope will start to become easier to implement," she says.
In the recent past, irrigated agriculture was a fact.
Vasileva also says: "In our municipality of Shabla, there were areas of about 10,000 decares, for which water was provided by "Irrigation systems". Currently, we have almost none. However, the bureaucratic obstacles to building new ones are not the only insurmountable obstacle for Dobrudja farmers. The only option at the moment to irrigate is by building boreholes, which is an expensive investment. "We have a good water flow at a depth of 100 meters, but in the neighboring village the water is at a depth of 150-200 meters, which makes the investment in irrigation extremely expensive," says Nona.
However, this investment is worth it, but help from the state is also needed to implement modern systems, the farmers share.
We have been cultivating areas with irrigation for the fourth year now, and I can tell you that the difference in yield is between 3 and 4 times. Specifically, on our farm, we plan to invest in different systems that are economical, so that we can still have a good cost of production in order to continue to exist," says Nona.
She is diversifying her production with 80 acres of sweet corn, which also requires irrigation. Alexander Kostov, on the other hand, sows sorghum.
"This year we have invested in 1,000 decares of sorghum, because the last 4 years have yielded negative economic results in the cultivation of corn. We are looking for options to replace it with a crop that will optimize our crop rotation. Of course, with our 1,000 decares we will not be able to do it, but in the future we are thinking of increasing the areas, provided that our partners with whom we have purchase contracts are also correct", says Alexander.
So far, he has only set aside a hundred of the 18,000 decares he cultivates for sorghum.
"The main problem is the market, because traders always compare sorghum to a low-quality product compared to corn. This is not so, because in all indicators - biochemical and fat, protein, carbohydrate content - it surpasses corn in nutritional value, "the farmer adds.
In the West, the benefits of the so-called "camel of the plant world" have long been noted.
"In a dry year, sorghum always yields more than corn. In a normal year, it yields a real yield for corn," adds Alexander.
There are several thousand acres of sorghum in Dobrichko this year, but until recently they were slightly less and are not included in the statistics. Again, we are relying on the market.
"First, there is no livestock farming. Sorghum is a product that should be used mainly in livestock farming, to be used for biomass, gas production, alcohol. There are different types of sorghum, but the market must have an adequate back-up, there must be livestock farming," adds Alexander.
In an attempt to replace corn, Dobrudzhan residents have invested in more than the usual amount of rapeseed this year - nearly 200,000 decares and about a million with sunflower.
"This year was truly unique, truly very good yields of rapeseed, but this shortens the crop rotation and is worrying, because rapeseed and sunflower are very difficult to grow in the same place," says Radostina.
Regardless of the attempts to diversify corn, all farmers are adamant that this crop will continue to be sown, but under one condition.
"In the coming years, our direction must be mainly towards irrigation. Without irrigation, we have no future," points out Nona.