THE ROLE OF THE EXTENSION SERVICES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SMALL-SCALE FARMS IN BULGARIA

The small-scale farms are the main group that has an important role for the development of the agricultural and rural area in Bulgaria. This family business is officially engaged in one member of the family farm and required employment power by all others members. The small-scale farmers with agricultural education are very small. This type of farmers has mostly practical agricultural knowledge and experience and funds their investment costs with their own financial resources. The goal of the present paper is to investigate the role of the extension services for the small-scale farmers. To achieve above goal was (1) to identify farmers' needs for information and knowledge, (2) to identify actors and their methods of exchange knowledge and (3) to present the processes of achieving knowledge and information among involved actors. The result of the study shows that extension services provided by National Agricultural Advisory Service (NAAS) are actively used by small-scale farmers who participate in the Rural and Development Programme. Whereas, all others small-scale farmers use their own knowledge that they have from off-farming activities and receive knowledge by other informal consultancy services such as local agronomists or neighbor farmers. The small farmers rarely used knowledge and information by expert of the scientific institutions.