Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 24 ISSUE 3
Written by Tsvetana HARIZANOVA – METODIEVA

The aim of the research is to group the districts in Bulgaria according to the development of the livestock sector. A hierarchical cluster model was developed based on the indicators for the number of cattle and buffalo, sheep, pigs and poultry by district in Bulgaria. Data on the number of farm animals were taken from the Register of Farmers for the 2020/2021 business year. A dendrogram was constructed showing the distribution of districts by clusters. Average values of the studied indicators for each cluster were calculated. The districts can be divided into 4 clusters according to the considered indicators. The first cluster includes 6 districts: Burgas, Haskovo, Kardzhali, Sliven, Blagoevgrad and Plovdiv. The second cluster includes 17 districts: Kyustendil, Pernik, Sofia-grad, Vidin, Smolyan, Montana, Lovech, Vratsa, Silistra, Gabrovo, Sofia, Yambol, Pazardzhik, Shumen, Razgrad, Targovishte and Pleven. The third cluster includes only one district - Veliko Tarnovo. The fourth cluster includes 4 districts: Stara Zagora, Dobrich, Varna and Ruse.

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