Cooperatives in Bulgaria have been reduced by more than half in the last 20 years, Bulgarian National Radio reports on May 23.
Currently, this business model, which combines socioeconomic development, is used in only 2,000 cooperatives. Those who work in the agricultural sector are those who are melting the fastest. This is demonstrated by the research on the project carried out by specialists from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Thrace in Stara Zagora.
Management problems and the lack of an updated law on cooperative enterprises are part of the problems identified during the implementation of a project of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Thrace, dedicated to the models of cooperative enterprises in our country, the teacher explained. Todorka Atanasova, project director.
“A cooperative is much more complex than a business organization. One characteristic is social, i.e. protection of members, and secondly, the organization must be an economically viable enterprise. “The idea of introducing a new cooperative law came up last month, but it was not implemented.”said Professor Atanasova.
According to reports, in the last 20 years the number of cooperatives in Bulgaria has decreased from 5,000 to 2,000. Agricultural cooperatives are the ones that are disappearing the fastest. The number of active users dropped drastically from 3,000 to less than a thousand.
Ángel Sarov, associate professor at the Institute of Agrarian Economics, pointed out that among the main problems is the disinterest of a significant part of the cooperative’s members, which in turn leads to the appropriation of the functions of the general meeting by of the president of the cooperative.
The project “Cooperative business models in Bulgaria and their potential to introduce innovative management solutions” aims to revive research in the field of cooperatives, as Bulgaria has a strong tradition in this field, says the project leader, Professor Todorka Atanasova. She added that at the end of the project it is planned to offer a comprehensive master’s program in economics and cooperative management, which will combine scientific achievements in this field.
In the foreseeable future, they will also propose integrating the discipline of cooperatives into university economics curricula.
Source: Rossa Primavera
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.