RESEARCH PAPER
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SLUDGE UTILIZATION IN AGRICULTURE IN BULGARIA AND SELECTED EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES
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Institute of Agricultural Economics
Submission date: 2023-08-04
Final review date: 2023-10-17
Acceptance date: 2024-01-12
Publication date: 2024-03-26
Zagadnienia Ekonomiki Rolnej / Problems of Agricultural Economics 2024;378(1):50-68
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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to illustrate the convergence of sludge utilization in Bulgaria and other
selected European Union countries (Hungary, Poland, Czechia, and Romania) and examine by correlation
and asymmetric analysis how and to what extent the transaction costs and sludge utilization impact
the use of sludge and inorganic fertilizers in agriculture. The usage of sludge from wastewater plants in
the agriculture is still a widespread way of sludge utilization, even though the trend in the recent years
shows a gradual regress and visible growth in other wastewater outlets. The correlation and asymmetric
analyses were carried out to give insights about the role of transaction costs in sludge use and the effect of sludge disposal in agriculture to supplement the mineral fertilizers. It is noted that the agriculture
is still a leading outlet of sludge disposal, the eventual transaction costs incurred by farmers to use it
are not changing during last years, whereas the prices of mineral fertilizers were not perceived to boost
sludge demand in agriculture. In countries such as Hungary and Poland, there is a relatively considerable
symmetry between the increase in the use of inorganic fertilizers and the shrink in the sludge use
in agriculture, while in Bulgaria the persistent trend of using inorganic fertilizers is supplemented by
a temperate growth in sludge agriculture disposal. In turn, in Romania there is a strong asymmetry between
the use of inorganic nitrogen and sludge in agriculture, however, it is attributed to lack of sludge
application in agriculture in the first half of the period under consideration.