Hungarian agriculture will be Europe’s top by 2030

(Photo: AM/Tibor Vermes)

According to the Minister of Agriculture, Hungarian agriculture has modernized spectacularly in the last 15 years, and its development is among the best in the EU. Thanks to this, Hungary is no longer just an exporter of raw materials, the proportion of processed products in exports has increased from 62 percent to 74.2 percent. The production volume of the food industry increased by almost 40 percent between 2010 and 2024. The output of animal husbandry within agriculture reached its highest rate since EU accession last year, at 40 percent. The total value of agricultural developments almost reached 670 billion forints last year alone, which is approximately double the amount in 2010, the Minister listed. He stressed that the government stood by producers in all difficult times, during droughts, frost damage, epidemics and market challenges, and made a historic decision when it provided the highest possible additional budgetary funding to EU rural development funds, tripling the development framework. This was necessary because Hungarian agriculture had been at a competitive disadvantage in previous decades, during privatization the new foreign owners had downsized the plants, and the governments before 2010 had misused EU subsidies, so it also happened that the amount of imports exceeded exports.

István Nagy welcomed the fact that farmers are open to developments, and their application requirements regularly exceed the announced framework.

Thanks to this, exports are growing faster than expected, and their balance is already not far from the 15 billion euros set for 2030, allowing Hungary to fill the gap that is arising in other EU member states due to the downsizing of agriculture. This opportunity must be used even when challenges make production difficult, as it was this year, although the harvest was nevertheless successful, the crop results were better than expected, in addition to domestic supply, exports are also ensured, and at least 1 million tons of corn are even exported abroad. The size of the areas affected by drought has decreased by a third compared to the great drought of 2022, the amount of stored water has increased by 1.5 billion cubic meters, and the most modern water management covers twice as large an area, he explained.

The Minister of Agriculture hopes that the population retention power of the countryside will increase from developments, subsidies and risk mitigation

Of the more than 3,100 billion forints of rural development resources available in this cycle, almost half will finance economic development, creating jobs and new opportunities across the country. The government will pay out all subsidies as soon as possible, which is among the fastest among EU member states. István Nagy also considers it a significant achievement that during the Hungarian EU presidency, the heads of agriculture ministries of all member states were able to come to a common platform for the first time, and the adopted Council conclusion states that the system of agricultural subsidies must be maintained in the future. Unfortunately, Brussels must be constantly warned to return to “the ground of common sense”, not to finance Ukraine at the expense of subsidies due to farmers, and to represent those whom it should represent. The EU’s cohesion policy and agricultural policy cannot be opposed, and non-EU states cannot occupy the markets of farmers living here, he said.

AM/MTI