Subsidies for Hungarian farmers are also guaranteed in 2024

(Photo: AM/Csaba Pelsőczy)

He explained: despite the economic difficulties – war, falling crop prices and unpredictable weather – in 2023, the value of agricultural payments reached a new record of HUF 1,400 billion, which is almost three times HUF 533 billion in 2010. Within this, a record amount of HUF 750 billion went to farmers in the largest agricultural and food industry development program following the regime change, the rural development program, launched in 2021.

By the end of last year, the government commitment made in the program exceeded HUF 3,400 billion, 50 percent more than the 2021 value

In the past two years, the competitiveness of livestock farmers has been improved by a total of HUF 430 billion in support of 2,500 projects. 152,000 farmers received HUF 419 billion in the form of advance and partial payments for last year’s uniform applications by mid-February, he said. István Nagy said that the use of the HUF 2,900 billion rural development subsidy until 2027 can start this year, of which HUF 600 billion comes from the EU and HUF 2,300 billion from the government. Of this, HUF 1,500 billion goes to economic development. He added: the first calls for tenders have already been prepared. In March, the first calls for tenders for agricultural and food industry investments will be announced, the new irrigation development support scheme for agricultural farms will be finalized by April, and the support package for generational change will be ready by summer. At the end of the year, investment programs supporting precision farming or the technological renewal of crop cleaning and drying will be announced, he said. He emphasized that instead of post-financing for investment subsidies, the Ministry of Agriculture provides pre-financing of up to 25 percent of the costs as an advance in order to support farmers. Speaking about the schemes supporting liquidity, he highlighted the Agrár Széchenyi Kártya MAX+ program, available with an interest rate of 5 percent, the voluntary interest ceiling of 9.9 percent, and the interest rate cap. Turning to the European farmers’ demonstrations, he said that the demonstrations had already yielded results: Brussels’ proposal to use pesticides failed and the European Commission is also waiting for proposals from the member states regarding the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy. Hungary has many proposals to reduce the administrative burdens affecting producers, and these may be on the agenda during the Hungarian EU presidency starting in July, he said. Without competitive farmers, agriculture cannot be competitive, the government’s task is to create and operate the appropriate economic environment – the head of the ministry concluded his speech.

MTI