Easter campaign to promote lamb meat has begun

Tamás Tarpataki emphasized that sheep farming is one of the most sustainable livestock farming sectors, as its environmental impact is low, its products can be easily utilized, are in demand abroad, and thanks to their excellent quality, they are competitive even with EU imports from New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The main buyers of Hungarian sheep products are Italy, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, but significant exports can also be explained by the fact that domestic consumption is low, only 0.2 kilograms per capita on average per year, despite the fact that sheep and lamb are traditional ingredients of Hungarian cuisine.

The Deputy Secretary of State added that in addition to encouraging consumption, the Ministry of Agriculture also supports sheep farmers with development subsidies, who can benefit from the 200 billion forints rural development budget allocated for the development of livestock farms and food processing.

In addition, their activities are supported by numerous opportunities, from the beginning of breeding to herd registration to animal welfare subsidies.

According to the managing director of the Agricultural Marketing Center (AMC), lamb meat has received less attention in Hungary than it deserves, as sheep farmers produce products with excellent content, which can even be incorporated into diet and athlete diets. It is therefore worth consuming them at other times, although the peak demand in Hungary is during the Easter period – said Péter Ondré.