Farmers can count on the government in the fight against drought

By: STA Date: 2025. 12. 11. 10:30

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Although drought and lack of precipitation have posed serious challenges to Hungarian agriculture this year, the timely measures taken to mitigate drought damage have ultimately significantly reduced crop losses, said Imre Hubai, State Secretary for Agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, in Újszilvás on Wednesday.

(Photo: AM/Tibor Vermes)

Imre Hubai drew attention to the fact that after the harvest, the amount of crop required for domestic supply is available, and some of the crops will also be available for export. He highlighted that drought protection and water retention measures, precipitation conservation, and the encouragement of less-rotated soil cultivation all contributed to the fact that this year’s dry weather was much less bearable for agriculture than during the great drought of 2022. Compared to three years ago, when it was 1.5 million hectares, this year, damage reports were received for about 500 thousand hectares, a third of the total. The 2025 drought primarily damaged sunflowers and corn. Government measures against the drought totaled nearly 20 billion forints. Of this amount, 4.7 billion forints were allocated for immediate drought protection measures, and the state also took over the irrigation costs of farmers, which amounted to 10 billion forints, and the water resource contribution was also made free of charge for farmers in the amount of 5 billion forints. Thanks to the timely measures taken, more than one billion cubic meters of water was saved, he added.

The Secretary of State reported that the previously 1 million hectares of corn cultivation area has decreased to 750 thousand hectares

Despite this, farmers can harvest 1 million tons more, almost 3.8 million tons, compared to 3 years ago. The sunflower area has increased, and according to calculations, it may be even larger next year. This crop still produces with greater certainty compared to corn. The current price level of corn is slightly below expectations, while that of sunflower is higher. Based on the feedback from producers, Imre Hubai sees that new varieties that adapt to weather changes and soil conditions can also help a lot, so seed production may play an important role in the coming period. He also emphasized that world market processes continue to provide better opportunities for quality production, so we need to switch to this from quantitative aspects as much as possible.