Long-term retrospective development of agriculture in Bulgaria, 1934–1989

The reform of agricultural land was one of the primary tasks during the transition from centrally planned to market economy in Bulgaria. The only undoubted point was the necessity of land restitution. It was without a doubt important to return the land to its rightful owners, the so called restitution. Both politicians and theoreticians were caught off guard in the face of the much needed radical reforms. The former is the main reason rendering some of the laws voted by the Bulgarian Parliament, including Law on Ownership and Use of the Farmland (1991) inefficient. The paper is aimed at outlining the main features of the long-term agricultural development in Bulgaria throughout the 20th century, namely before and during WWII as well as the period of centrally planned economy leading up to 1989. The historical overview is employed a background for the purpose of outlining preconditions for the following process of transition once again of agriculture to market economy type.