Lettuce has become more expensive by 20%, farmers are becoming fewer and fewer

Bulgaria has reported a drastic decline in the production of greenhouse vegetables this winter. This is the reason why there are currently fewer and fewer Bulgarian tomatoes and cucumbers on the markets in our country. In order to avoid losses in production, most farmers have preferred to leave their greenhouses empty and postpone the planting of new production for a few months.

To survive the winter season, Boril Nikolov has sown his greenhouse with lettuce instead of cucumbers and tomatoes. This way, he saves on gas costs, which have increased in price by 30% in the cold months.

"Our biggest expense is staff. We almost do not fertilize in the winter period, and watering is also reduced to a minimum. We have no heating. They are kept in solar greenhouses with double polyethylene, we cover them with a mulch of lettuce and in this way we maintain a temperature difference without heating", explains Boril Nikolov. He currently grows 29,000 heads of lettuce. In addition to the classic ones, he has also sown boutique ones.

The prices of lettuce are 20% higher this year than last winter. "About 1 - 1.20 leva is our wholesale selling price", explains Boril to NOVA.

The price of lettuce in the markets in Plovdiv is between 1.50 and 2.50, an inspection found. The merchants do not hide that they offer both Greek and Macedonian.

And Boril, who has been involved in agriculture for years, is skeptical about the law that the state is preparing to shorten the path of food from the producer to the chains.

"I doubt that this will have a serious impact, for example, to reduce it by half. That cannot happen. In my opinion, prices will remain high because there is simply not enough production and we farmers, Bulgarian producers of fruit and vegetables, are becoming fewer and fewer and our goods are starting to become boutique", says Boril Nikolov.