THE USE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES IN THE INTRODUCTION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS IN BULGARIA
Roumen Otouzbirov
Trakia University, Students Town, Stara Zagora 6000, Bulgaria
roumen@uni-sz.bg
Agricultural production is in need of an effective information system as far as requirements, marketing stan¬dards, prices and control are concerned. This system is one of the major prerequisites for achieving high quality and good competitiveness on the home and international markets. The aim of the current research is to study the informa¬tion resources used in the introduction of the EU regulations for the classification of agricultural products in Bul¬garia. The research is based on a questionnaire conducted among 40 people involved in the production and process¬ing of agricultural products. The questions are concerned with the source of business and the size of the agricultural enterprise; whether or not the staff are aware of the EU regulations; the use of information sources (at least five should be ticked by the interviewee on completing the questionnaire and numbered in accordance with the degree of importance attached); what kind of information is missing; and who are the employees directly responsible for col¬lecting information. Both comparative and descriptive analyses have been used in processing the empirical data that has been collected. As a result the following general conclusions have been arrived at: Representatives of micro- and small business enterprises, which comprise 75 % of the interviewees, are not well informed of the EU regulations and requirements for the classification of agricultural products. The ministries in charge, as well as the state institutions, which are the most valued sources of information, do not seem willing to engage themselves in quick and effective exchange of information, in organizing training and counseling programs to facilitate the implementation of the EU requirements. Meanwhile, public organizations and specialized research institutes remain highly underestimated as information sources.The desire for competitiveness and international market realization is impeded by the lack of a specialized in¬formation resource for agricultural produce enterprises.
Keywords: Information resources; classification systems; agricultural product
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