AM: applications can be submitted for support for complex irrigation development investments

By: STA Date: 2025. 03. 07. 10:45

The fact that the tender for support for complex irrigation development investments has been opened with a budget of 50 billion forints is a further help for farmers – Zsolt Feldman, the State Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture (AM), drew attention to the fact that, according to the Ministry of Agriculture’s Wednesday statement, the call was made.

(Photo: Pixabay)

Following the subsidies available for many years within the framework of the Rural Development Program, in the new agricultural support cycle, in the first half of this year, two calls, with a total value of almost 66 billion forints, are available for irrigation-related investments – the statement says. The State Secretary added that the Ministry of Agriculture continuously treats the development of irrigation farming as a priority area, as the goal is to increase the size of irrigated areas in the years ahead. The call for applications for support for the implementation of smaller-scale developments was open for submission in the first two submission stages from 4 February 2025.

In this call for applications, the maximum amount of support could be 200 million forints, and 218 applications for support were submitted by farmers

The call now being opened serves the implementation of larger-scale developments and complex investments, the State Secretary highlighted. The amount of support can be at least 200 million and at most 5 billion forints. Given the complexity of the developments, a maximum of 36 months are available for implementation, they wrote.

The beneficiaries of the calls may be agricultural producers, state-recognized producer groups and cooperatives, or sustainable water management communities

The call enables the introduction of water-saving irrigation technologies, the optimization of water use in irrigation systems, the modernization, expansion and reconstruction of water-saving irrigation infrastructure and related structures, and the creation of new irrigation water supply works and systems. In order to ensure sustainable water management, preference will be given to those producers who apply various water-retaining farming methods to improve the water-retaining capacity of the soil. Irrigation development is inevitable, along with the application of appropriate practices that help farmers adapt to climate change, as it seriously contributes to maintaining the competitiveness of domestic agriculture – Zsolt Feldman summarized, according to the announcement.

MTI