The country’s bread is guaranteed

(Photo: AM/István Fekete)

The head of the ministry touched on the need to increase competitiveness in the sector, for which the government will provide all support to farmers. According to István Nagy, it shows the government’s commitment and determination that Hungary provides an unprecedented amount of 80 percent additional national funding for the resources of the EU budget cycle until 2027. He added: large-scale investment programs were launched in 2021 and 2022, in the framework of which tenders were announced with a resource limit of HUF 1,500 billion, and in this period, subsidies exceeding HUF 1,445 billion were paid for 11,000 tenders. Special attention was paid to those with small and medium-sized enterprises: 14 percent of the direct area-based subsidies, or about 190 million euros (about HUF 73 billion), are used for advanced support for these enterprises. Another significant help for the smallest is that they can receive 82 euros (more than HUF 31,000) per hectare for the first 10 hectares, while those exceeding that amount will receive an average of EUR 44 (almost HUF 17,000) on top of the basic subsidy – explained the head of the ministry.

István Nagy drew attention to the investment programs announced as part of the Rural Development Program, which stabilize the production and sales opportunities of small producers

In order to support the local product sales markets and fairgrounds, 166 applicants were granted a subsidy of over 13 billion forints, and in the tender for the development of small agricultural plants, 13 thousand small plants won a subsidy of 15 thousand euros (almost 6 million forints) each, a total of about 73.5 billion forints. He added that HUF 30 billion have been allocated in the first round to support the sustainable development of small agricultural farms, and the call is expected in the second half of 2024. From the point of view of the future of agriculture, the Minister of Agriculture called the success of the generational change one of the most important issues, for which they are helping young farmers with a special program. In addition to the basic support intensity of 40-50 percent for investment-type developments, young farmers receive an additional support of 10 percent. As part of this, more than HUF 71 billion were awarded to 2,400 applicants until August this year, the head of the ministry pointed out.

An important element of the measures is the initial support of young producers

The Ministry of Agriculture has so far supported the applications of 1,271 young farmers with an amount of almost HUF 16 billion. In the context of the generational change, in connection with the transfer of the farm, both the transferors and the recipients can count on support of between 40 thousand and 100 thousand euros (15.5-38.75 million forints) depending on the size of the transferred plant – said István Nagy. He spoke separately about the development of demonstration plants, which can be applied for in the autumn with a budget of HUF 15 billion. Among others, agricultural training centers, higher education institutions with a teaching farm, 100 percent state-owned research institutes conducting variety experiments, or, for example, the István Széchenyi Agricultural and Food Technology Institute in Hajdúböszörmény, which hosts the agricultural forum, can submit a grant application – the minister listed. The head of the agricultural ministry addressed the agricultural anomalies that arose as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war, according to which cheap Ukrainian grain flooded the EU’s internal markets. He stated: Hungary, together with the Poles, Slovaks, Romanians and Bulgarians, managed to limit the import of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds in the region until September 15, which they intend to maintain at least until the end of the year. At the same time, the agricultural and foreign trade attachés of the Hungarian embassies abroad were given the task of widely searching for markets for Hungarian wheat and Hungarian honey, István Nagy said. István Jakab, the vice-president of the Parliament and the president of the Association of Hungarian Farmers’ Cooperatives and Farmers’ Cooperatives (Magosz), said that there had never been such close cooperation between the government, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Chamber and interest representation bodies. According to him, it is also due to this that the Hungarian strategic plan ensures the possibility of further development for all players in agriculture. At the same time, the politician drew attention to the fact that this is not the case in several countries in Europe, that interest representatives and professional organizations are tied up, which is why the upcoming European Parliament election is important, which “will decide our fate for a long time”.

MTI