State and Perspectives of Development of Buffalo Breeding in Bulgaria

In the last 45 years the production of buffalo milk in the world increases with much higher rates compared with the cow milk. This is a result of the process of restructuring of the buffalo breeding towards production of milk and meat. In Bulgaria this restructuring ended with the full replacement of the aboriginal Bulgarian buffalo for work, milk and meat with the new breed Bulgarian Murrah, which possesses high productive qualities for milk and meat. It is used as a genetic source for improving the milk productivity in dozens of countries on the four continents of the world. In the next years, as a EU member, the national economy of Bulgaria will endure significant changes, which will influence positively the agrarian production and respectively the buffalo breeding. Therefore the view in the future of this perspective branch requires a profound analysis of the buffalo breeding, as well as the business environment, in which it will develop. Based on this analysis and the specific biological specifics, methodological and methodical conditions in the study, the development of the buffalo breeding in 2005-2020 is foreseen. Special place in it occupies the production of high quality tribal material for the domestic needs and the needs of the foreign markets. Suitable productive structure of acknowledged Bulgarian brands of milk and meat products with high VAT is mentioned. The tendencies and directions towards the perspective economi-organizational structures, technological changes and the increase of the incomes on the whole chain from the connected with the business of buffalo breeding activities are defined. Necessary attention is drawn to the contemporary requirements to the comfort of the animals, ecological purity of the final food products and the protection of the environment from pollutions.