Applications can be submitted to support complex irrigation development investments

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Following many years of subsidies under the Rural Development Program, the new agricultural support cycle, in the first half of this year, will be available for irrigation investments of almost HUF 66 billion. The Secretary of State added that the Ministry of Agriculture is constantly treating the development of irrigation farming as a priority, as the aim is to increase the size of irrigated areas in the years ahead. The call for smaller-scale developments could be submitted from 4 February 2025 in the first two submission stages. In this announcement, the grant was up to HUF 200 million, and the farmers submitted 218 grant applications. The now opening call serves the implementation of larger -scale developments and complex investments, the Secretary of State emphasized. The grant may be at least HUF 200 million to HUF 5 billion. The implementation, due to the complexity of the developments, has a maximum of 36 months.

Beneficiaries of calls may be farmers, state -recognized producers groups and cooperatives, and sustainable water management communities

The call allows for the introduction of water-saving irrigation technologies, optimization of water use water consumption, modernization, expansion and reconstruction of water-saving irrigation infrastructure and related artwork, and the creation of new irrigation water and systems. In order to ensure sustainable water management, producers who use various water retention methods to improve the water retention capacity of the soil are preferred. Irrigation development is inevitable with the use of proper business climate application practices, as it seriously contributes to the competitiveness of domestic agriculture – concluded Zsolt Feldman.

AM