Hungarian agriculture can develop from HUF 5,300 billion until 2027

(Photo: Tibor Vermes)

He added that, despite the rather unpredictable international political and economic conditions, the priority goal is for the productivity of Hungarian agriculture to increase by one and a half times, the added value of Hungarian agricultural production to double, and the value of agricultural and food exports to increase by 50 percent to 15 billion euros by 2030.

Zsolt Feldman said that half of the HUF 5,300 billion is from the EU, and half is domestic additional funding

He drew attention to the fact that thanks to the involvement of the Hungarian budget, Hungarian agriculture, in addition to the continuation of previously proven, working practices, is not only faced with the strengthening of green and sustainability criteria and changes in the rules for access to resources, but also with many new opportunities. The new support system requires a thorough knowledge of the interrelated conditions, a complex approach, and awareness – emphasized Zsolt Feldman.

The state secretary touched on the fact that the banking sector plays an important role in the financing of agriculture

Last year, the loan stock placed in the sector increased by about 13.4 percent, or HUF 120 billion. Although the pace of agricultural investments has also slowed down, in 2022 around HUF 452 billion agricultural investments were realized thanks to HUF 226 billion in subsidies, he added. László Wolf, Deputy CEO of OTP Bank, explained that the credit institution increased its loan portfolio in the Hungarian agricultural sector by 24 percent last year. At the end of the year, OTP’s group-level agricultural loan portfolio in the region amounted to HUF 1,500 billion. In Hungary, OTP Bank’s market share in financing the agricultural sector is 25 percent. András Herczegh, the managing director of the Agrár-Vállalkozasi Hitelgarancia Alapítvány (AVHGA), said that the conditions of the guarantee are tailored to the current needs of agriculture, and according to him, the agricultural guarantee is expected to play an even more prominent role in the future.

MTI