AM: small farms are the winners of this year’s agricultural subsidies advance payment period

By: STA Date: 2024. 11. 08. 09:00

The advance payment period for agricultural subsidies is going well, the Hungarian Treasury (MÁK) has paid a total of HUF 119.3 billion in advance payments to those concerned by the end of October. Small farms also receive special attention when scheduling payments, since more than 70 percent of those who have been subsidized so far have holdings of no more than 10 hectares, stated Zsolt Feldman, the State Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, according to the ministry’s announcement on Thursday.

(Photo: Pixabay)

The advance payment is a major help for the farmers to carry out the autumn agricultural work without disturbance, and also ensures the financial stability and liquidity of the producers. Already in the first two weeks of the advance payment, i.e. until the end of October, 112,000 farmers, i.e. 73 percent of the producers who submitted support applications, received support, they wrote. The advance payment started with the significant payment of two area-based legal titles affecting the largest group of producers, as well as production-related support to help ensure the domestic milk supply, they added.

Payments were made in a short time

Among the area-based subsidies, HUF 75.8 billion reached 110,000 producers in two weeks from the basic subsidy, which is beneficial from an environmental point of view, but provided in exchange for the fulfillment of conditions that limit production and reduce farmers’ incomes. The average payment per producer was HUF 710,000. The averages often obscure the distribution of the true size, so it is also worth adding that payments were made for more than 80,000 requests in the case of farms not exceeding 10 hectares. In addition to small farms, 27 percent of all recipients of payments belong to the group of small and medium-sized family farms larger than 10 hectares but not exceeding 150 hectares, for which advance payments were made for slightly more than 30,000 applications. So far, less than 2 percent of the paid applications, slightly more than 2,000 producers, are connected to farms with an area of ​​more than 150 hectares. Due to the size of their businesses, the most vulnerable farms will receive the fastest help – added the state secretary, according to the announcement. This is also confirmed by the fact that the other area-based subsidy, the payment of which has started, is especially beneficial for small and medium-sized farms, i.e. farms not exceeding 150 hectares. Within the framework of this so-called redistributive support, HUF 75.8 billion was allocated to 110,000 producers by the end of October, i.e. in two weeks, the announcement states.

Zsolt Feldman emphasized that the financial resources necessary for payments are fully available

A question that regularly arises is who can get an advance. The Hungarian State Treasury can generate the payment depending on the conclusion of the checks affecting the given farmer. The uniform applications for 2024 were submitted by almost 160,000 producers for approximately 5 million hectares. The advance payment is continuous and lasts until November 30, 2024, after which it will continue in the form of partial payments until mid-December, the AM announced.

MTI

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