This year will be a test of crisis resistance and crisis management in agriculture

(Photo: Csaba Pelsőczy)

Sándor Farkas said at the Portfolio Agrárium 2023 conference: the Hungarian government is aware of the many challenges and unexpected difficulties that have plagued almost every sector of agriculture in the past period. However, thanks to the measures taken to improve the financing situation and the financial strengthening of the sector, agriculture was able to stay on its feet even after last year’s tragic year – stated the state secretary. He emphasized: the vision of the Ministry of Agriculture is that farming can be a profitable and socially recognized occupation, even a profession, in the long term. “It should be available and feasible for all farmers to create a viable business through the sustainable use of natural resources,” he added. According to Sándor Farkas, “the vision is not building a castle in the air”, but a goal based on a sector that has been on a growth path in the last decade. He emphasized: thanks to the numerous measures and support, Hungarian agriculture and the food industry have undergone significant development, and their efficiency and effectiveness have improved significantly. Agricultural investments expanded spectacularly between 2010 and 2022, which contributed to the modernization of the sector, increasing its productivity and competitiveness. Farmers spent HUF 542 billion on improvements in 2021, 70 percent more than in 2010 at constant prices. The development wave continued in the first half of 2022, the volume of agricultural investments exceeded the year before by 23 percent. As a result of these, the profitability of agriculture at the sectoral level increased significantly – he listed.

Lots of grants approved

The State Secretary reminded: in the past two years, more than 1,200 billion forints in subsidies have been approved for the development of more than ten thousand agricultural and food industry enterprises. In the following years, HUF 1,500 billion are still available for the implementation of similar developments, he added. He emphasized that despite all the difficulties, the amount of Rural Development Program payments exceeded HUF 400 billion in 2022, which means that farmers received a record amount of money last year. For this year, HUF 750 billion has been set aside for similar purposes in the 2023 national budget.

According to Sándor Farkas, it is clear that there are serious opportunities in this sector

For the sake of their competitiveness, agricultural enterprises must strive to create the most optimal support mix for them. As he said, the Hungarian agriculture and food industry can develop by using more than HUF 5,300 billion until 2027 with the adoption of the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy (KAP). Despite the rather unpredictable international political and economic circumstances, the government’s priority goal is to increase the productivity of agriculture to one and a half times, the added value of agricultural production to double, and the value of agricultural and food exports to 15 billion euros by 2030, added the state secretary.

AM