We are part of the largest agricultural development program since the change of regime

(Photo: AM/Csaba Pelsőczy)

Sándor Farkas explained: a change of a historic scale is now taking place in agriculture, which will determine our lives for a long time. Those working in the sector can be part of and shape a modernization and development breakthrough, and the Ministry of Agriculture intends to facilitate this process with targeted support. Agriculture and rural development are not the internal affairs of farmers, but the basis of Hungary’s self-sufficiency, the backbone of the countryside, a continuation of traditions, a force for community formation, and an employment sector of outstanding importance – he emphasized and pointed out: the government therefore views agriculture and its actors as a national strategic sector. The State Secretary recalled that in the second half of 2024, Hungary, as the rotating presidency of the European Union, put on the table an agricultural strategy that focuses on a fair livelihood for farmers, ensuring full food self-sufficiency, and balancing environmental and competitiveness aspects. He highlighted that Hungary will continue to stand by area-based subsidies in the future: several hundred thousand people signed the agricultural petition launched by the Chamber of Agriculture and MAGOSZ last autumn – he said. Analyzing the performance of the sector, Sándor Farkas highlighted, among other things: in the EU comparison, Hungarian agriculture achieved the fifth highest growth according to the total productivity indicator and the seventh highest according to the indicator indicating territorial productivity in the past decade and a half. The share of processed products within agricultural exports increased from 62 percent to 74 percent – he added. Last year, farmers, rural businesses and local governments received almost 585 billion forints in rural development support. The largest amount paid was related to agricultural investment calls: the government spent more than 264 billion forints on this area – the state secretary listed.

Regarding area and animal-based support, he indicated that the payment of unified applications for 2024 is ongoing

By mid-March, payments worth almost 518 billion forints had been made to 159 thousand people under 27 legal titles, and in addition, an additional 300 billion forints will be received by farmers, which the Hungarian State Treasury will disburse in a scheduled manner. In the new agricultural support cycle, 35 calls for applications have already been issued, with an amount of approximately 1,375 billion forints. He highlighted that eight tenders involving food and feed processing, animal husbandry, irrigation and horticulture received requests for support of almost HUF 1,800 billion, which is four to five times the budget amount. Among the latest investment calls, he drew attention to the tender supporting the development of crop storage facilities, cleaning facilities and seed plants, for which applications for support worth a total of HUF 50 billion can be submitted from April 30 and May 28, respectively. This year will be a year of opportunities in agriculture, and the government has introduced several facilitations in financing, the State Secretary said. He also said that great emphasis was placed on the development of irrigation capacities in the Rural Development Programme: by supporting more than 1,200 producer water management projects, the irrigated area was expanded by 32,000 hectares, and many old infrastructures were also renewed. The current agricultural support cycle also encourages the use of water-conserving farming practices, Sándor Farkas finally emphasized.

MTI