Dilyana Mitova‡Corresponding author: Dilyana Mitova ( dilianamit@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Bozhidar Ivanov © Dilyana Mitova. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Mitova D (2025) Socio-economic analysis of cage dropping out in calf rearing in Bulgaria. ARPHA Proceedings 8: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3897/ap.e148349 |  |
Goal: to evaluate the effects of introducing the ban on cage calf rearing in Bulgaria.
Material and methods: In order to gain insight into the complex socio-economic implications of EC initiative to phase out cage farming of farm animals in the EU, a science-based assessment at the calve-rearing at national sectoral level is made. The RCA method is applied to 3 scenarios: baseline status quo scenario; with voluntary introduction of non-cаgе calf rearing and market pressure; mandatory regulation with a transition period of up to 10 years for full implementation. A list of indicators by typology and types is compiled.
Results: The scenario with mandatory regulations for the cancellation of cage rearing, with a proposed 10-year transit period, is estimated by the industry to receive an insignificantly lower overall score on the included 25 indicators than the other scenarios.
Conclusion: The ban on cage calf farming should not lead to severe and serious adverse effects related to both investment burden and rising production costs, even it can bring some positives, mostly in relation to the labor need, and it will not have, or will have only minor, adverse production effects on the sector.