Tsenovo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The municipality of Tsenovo is a Bulgarian municipality and village located beneath the Yantra river in the rolling Danube lowlands. The Danube river defines her northern boundary and she is bordered to the northeast by the city of Ruse, the regional capital. To the west is the university town of Svishtov. Her southern border touches the cities Byala and Polski Trumbesh and to the east the municipality of Borovo. The municipality contains nine (populated) villages with a combined population of 7,282 residents (09.2006) and stretches an area of 2,497 square kilometers.

[edit] History

The municipality’s present location developed around the end of the 16th century or the early 17th century. It was given the name “Chayshan” after Kara Ali of Tsarigrad who was the sergeant of the guards near the palace “Gulhaneh” (and the chief officer of the parks near the sultan’s palace “Gulhaneh”). The villagers consider the palace the regional administrative office and referred to it by the name “Chayshan” (from the Turkish language meaning “the Inn of the Administration”). During the tumultuous times that marked the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th, villagers near and far came to the inn for security, shelter, and temporary subsistence provided by the administration, which reinforced the palaces importance and role within the region.

As more newcomers from the tribes came to the center, they brought with them the names from their homeland for the village. At this time of growth, the name of the village changed from “Chayshan” to “Chayshquoi”—a village in the Chaysha region under the administrator Ali Chaysh. Under this name, on the 3rd of March 1878, the villagers revolted and fought for liberation from the Turkish administration and agricultural forces then ruling the area between Ruse and Svishtov.

After this date the name remained unchanged until adding the suffix “-ev” and becoming “Chayshevo” of the Svishtov district. On the 14th of August 1934, with a command from the ministry council, the village “Chayshevo” was renamed the village of “Tsenovo”—in honor of the popular Svishtov shopkeeper Dimitur Apostolov Tsenovo—and in his name gave forty million leva for the construction of an institution for trade in Svishtov (nowadays known as the “D.A Tsenov Academy of Economics” in Svishtov). In same year that Dimitur Tsenov moved to Belene, the village became the center of a municipality combining two villages—Tsenovo and Dolna Studena.

In 1960, after the abolition of the Svishtov district, Tsenovo registered as a member of the Ruse region and by the new administrative partition on March 25, 1979, Tsenovo become municipal center in the new village system (now known as an obshtina).

The obshtina of Tsenovo is composed of 9 populated areas: Tsenovo (Ценово), (Dolna Studena)Долна Студена, Beltsov (Белцов), Karamanovo (Караманово), Novgrad (Новград), Krivina (Кривина), Piperkovo (Пиперково), Joolunitsa (Джулюница) and Belianovo (Беляново). Together they occupy a total area of 2497 KM.

[edit] Population

As of September 2006 the residents of the municipality of Tsenovo numbered 7,282. This is the remainder of a population that over the last thirty-five years the population has been cut in half. The municipality has a characteristically low birth rate (4.3%) and a high mortality rate (22.0%) which combine for a high though natural annual decrease in the population (-12.5). In addition, there is much migration from Tsenovo to Ruse, Svishtov, and Byala for jobs and education.

[edit] Local Economy

The Business Sector – The Tsenovo municipality is one of the smallest in the Ruse region and the scope and structure of her economy is similar to Slivo. Over 73% of production is dominated by agriculture. Services and remanufacture industry make up the other significant components at 15.5% and 7.6% respectively. The municipal economy is not, in fact, developed. The lack of markets, the remoteness from the regional headquarters (Ruse), the depopulation of several important village, the rapidly aging population, are all parts of the problem which are being addressed by the new municipal leadership.

Stock Breeding, Animal Husbandry and other local production – After a serious drop in the beginning of the 1990s, the number of animals has stabilized and has notably trended toward recovery in the last couple of years and continues to increase. In comparison with 2004 the number of dairy cows and swine has remained constant despite the fluctuating prices in milk and pork and with respect to the up and down forage production in the years 2003 and 2004.

The municipality also has a production capacity for small industry including furniture parts, woodworking, spices and herbs, and tailoring.

Fruit and Vegetable Production – The specific characteristics of the region is the grain production, an annual crop farming 121,100 DKA of wheat, barely, sunflowers, corn, and other grains technically cultivated for the production of oil, accounting for 71% of the cultivated land in the municipality—an area nearly equivalent to the country average (72%).

Fruit growing is a subdivision of agricultural that has sustained the sensitive ups and downs of the last fifteen years. Specifically, the predominant fruits are apricots (184 DK, 27%), walnuts (280 DK, 39%), and peaches (70 DK, 10%). During the last three years, 280 DK of new land has been designated for production—specifically for plums and cherries. A noticeable positive trend, the overlapping interests of agricultural producers, and the use of new lands, suggests a return to the traditional yields of the region within five to seven years.

In comparison with other areas of the agricultural development, there has been a persistent slump in the last fifteen years in grapes grown for wine. The vineyards now amount to 20,811 DK, 95 percent of which are for wine varietals, and the remainder for consumptions as sweets. The grapes grown are predominantly used to make cabernet and muscat.

The municipality of Tsenovo also has the potential, capacity, and tradition for market vegetables—especially in the villages of Tsenov, Beltsov, and Dolna Studena. However, it has not developed or reached its former capacity for production on account of an insufficient labor force, a revised farmers’ guild, and irrigation problems in the region. For these reasons the agricultural market today is developing at a slow pace of 1 or 2 DK annually, without the possibility of filling an order greater than one truckload (over 10 tons of one kind of vegetable). In the municipality, market vegetables are grown on 284 DK—84% of this production on agriculturally zoned land, while 16% is grown in family managed properties and greenhouses.

The current market structure allows for the production of other fruits and vegetables, predominantly watermelons and other melons, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, cabbage, onions, strawberries, and raspberries. They are grown on 170 DK.