The selected target crops for Bulgaria are: soft wheat spring barley rye oats oil seed rape potato sugar beet LOCAL EXPERTS Mag. agr. Aivars Jermuss Latvian University of Agriculture, Skriveri research centre, Skriveri Dr. agr. Janis Vigovskis Latvian University of Agriculture, Skriveri research centre, Skriveri COUNTRY PROFILE Latvia has low share of agricultural land and agricultural sector does not have very high importance in national economy.

Total agricultural area in Latvia is 2,52 million ha (39% of its total land area), of which 1,7 million ha are classified as arable land (67%). 44% of Latvia is covered by forests (2,9 million ha) and timber production is rising steadily. The most fertile soils can be found in the plains to the south of Riga, where most of the sugar beet production and also fruit and vegetable production is concentrated. The central and eastern mountainous areas are less favourable for crop production and are therefore dominated by cattle breeding.

The self-sufficiency for most crop commodities in Latvia, other than for oats and potatoes, is generally well below 100%.

The Soviet regime left Latvia with a set of environmental problems concerning eroded land, polluted sites, and hazardous livestock units. The main environmental problems related to agriculture include the eutrophication and pollution caused by nitrogen, phosphorus and other biogenic materials, pesticides and heavy metals. A major problem is the pollution of the Baltic Sea. In 1993, wastewater resulting from agricultural activities, food processing and fishery production represented 21,3% of total wastewater discharges in Latvia. The use of pesticides and synthetic fertilisers fell sharply over the last few years. While this poses problems for agricultural productivity, the implication for the environment is clearly that the risk of pollution from farm inputs has, at least on the average, diminished.