Agri Minister Mulls Bulgarian Rose Act
Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, announced plans to have experts at his institution working on a rose oil standard and a law for the Bulgarian rose.
Naydenov says that unlike other agriculture sectors, such as fruit growing, the rosecultivation has profited from inclement weather with torrential rains. The expectations are for a larger and better quality crop.
The Minister promises a Rose Act, similarly to the recently passed Wine Act, adding he has secured the support of a number of Members of the Parliament.
"In this Act, as in the wine one, we will include a special standard to protect theBulgarian rose and rose oil brand name," said he, but admitted that "it would be difficult to produce a Bulgarian perfume to beet French aromas."
The rose producers from the valley of Rose, near the Bulgarian town of Kazanlakalready announced they expect a crop of 400 kg of rose petals from one dekare while the purchase price of one kg of rose oil is expected to reach EUR 6 000.
Bulgaria is one of the biggest producers of rose oil in the world. The reason for this is hidden in the high qualities of the Bulgarian Kazanluk rose ("Kazanlashka roza"), a special type, that was cultivated in the region after many years of development. TheBulgarian roses come from the so called Damascena rose.
A large percentage of the harvested roses are used for the production of rose oil - "the liquid gold" of Bulgaria. Rose oil is used mainly for the making of perfumes, chocolates, liqueur and jam - it is 3 times more expensive than real gold. One kilogram of rose oil is extracted from roughly 3000 kg of roses.
Text and photo: novinite.com