2023 is the year of record payments in agriculture

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The head of the department emphasized that behind the results of the payments are the successful fulfillment by the farmers of the requirements to be met for the subsidies and the efforts of the institutional system contributing to the implementation. The dynamic is clearly indicated by the fact that the payment rate of the Rural Development Program has essentially doubled, as previously an average of HUF 6.7 billion was paid out per week, in 2023 this increased to HUF 13.7 billion and by the end of the year it was close to HUF 750 billion, which is also a record. He added that, in addition to investments, the other outstanding area is the support of agri-environmental management and ecological management, in which a total of HUF 200 billion was received this year for farmers participating in the programs and undertaking environmentally friendly management practices.

István Nagy said that 2023 was a difficult year for Hungarian agriculture

The decrease in consumption resulting from the economic downturn in Europe and the consequent deterioration of sales positions there, the duty-free access of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU market and the resulting market anomalies left a hard mark on this year. He emphasized that, despite the difficulties, the total output value of agriculture exceeded HUF 4.3 thousand billion, which represents a 6.5% increase compared to last year. Export values were the same as last year’s 2022, which means 8.8 billion euros for the first eight months of the year. It is worth noting that our five most important export markets this year were Germany, Italy, Romania, Austria and Poland, explained the minister.

The head of the department also touched on the first advance payment period of the new period of the Common Agricultural Policy

As part of this, 136,000 farmers benefited from HUF 194 billion in support under six legal titles. The largest amount, HUF 139.6 billion, was paid under the title of basic support to almost 135,000 producers. 133,000 farmers received HUF 41 billion under the title of redistributive support. István Nagy listed the possibility of advance payments for the support of intensive and extensive fruit orchards, as well as the support of ewes and dairy cows for animal husbandry.

AM