Subsidies for Hungarian farmers are also guaranteed in 2024

(Photo: AM/István Fekete)

Sándor Farkas highlighted that “in 2023 we set a new record”, because last year the amount of agricultural subsidies successfully applied for and paid exceeded HUF 1,300 billion. Regarding the county of Csongrád-Csanád, the total value of commitments for the calls announced in the rural development program was close to HUF 190 billion, and the amount paid for subsidized applications exceeded HUF 108 billion, he added. The deputy minister considers the support of investments that increase competitiveness and efficiency to be decisive, as he believes that it is necessary to respond to the new challenges caused by Ukrainian agricultural products.

In the field of agricultural subsidies, the Rural Development Program is replaced by the KAP Strategic Plan

Its domestic resources are HUF 5,393 billion, of which rural development, i.e. KAP II. its pillar amounts to HUF 2,895 billion. From the reasonable use of this source, further development of the Hungarian agriculture and food industry is expected until 2027. “Of the nearly HUF 2,900 billion in agricultural and rural development resources, the Union provides 600 billion, the rest is domestic money,” the deputy minister reminded, then explained that 52 percent of the rural development resources, or nearly HUF 1,500 billion, goes to economic development, agricultural and food industry investments. Regarding the calls for tenders, he said that the first package of agricultural and food industry investments is expected in the spring, and it is also planned to start our ecologically important land use change subsidies for spring, for which the possibility of using multi-year maintenance subsidies will be opened later. The call package to help generational change can be prepared by the summer, while the rural development tender constructions are expected by the fall. In addition to all this, we are timing the announcement of another investment tender package by the end of the year, which will help precision farming or the technological renewal of crop cleaning and drying – he listed. Sándor Farkas mentioned that the county of Csongrád-Csanád is the flagship of cultivated vegetable cultivation. In 2022, the county’s share of the national harvest was 39.5 percent of eggplant, 38.9 percent of carrots, 26.7 percent of green peppers, 25.5 percent of tomatoes, and 24.5 percent of cucumbers. Potatoes, which were produced by 1,144 farmers on 1,782 hectares, are also of outstanding importance in the national context.

AM