The new agricultural and rural development tenders will start at the beginning of next year

(Photo: drnagyistvan.hu)

The minister reminded that the Strategic Plan of Hungary’s Common Agricultural Policy was adopted in Brussels on November 7, 2022, which includes the framework and possibilities of Hungarian agricultural and rural development subsidies from this year until 2027 for farmers, food producers and settlements in our rural areas. The aim of the ministry is to have a competitive, 21st century, modern agriculture and processing industry in Hungary. István Nagy highlighted that the market challenges caused by last year’s drought, wartime inflation, the failed Brussels sanctions and duty-free Ukrainian crops created extraordinary conditions in agriculture. And in this situation, it is our responsibility to use the agricultural and rural development subsidies in the most expedient and forward-looking way possible, with the addition of 80% of the EU’s rural development resources of 600 billion forints, i.e. 2300 billion forints, by the Hungarian government. This source is sufficient to increase the added value, to strengthen the sustainability of our food production, to realize the domestic economic and rural development goals, as well as to meet the EU’s green expectations at the same time, he added. He emphasized that from the beginning of 2024, the announcement of new agricultural and rural development tenders and grant titles will begin, the schedule of which consists of 69 tenders is available here. Plans may change slightly due to external circumstances. There is no legal obligation to create a schedule until the end of next year, but in the current difficult economic, market and financing environment, planability and predictability are important for those involved. In the case of all support schemes, we will conduct extensive professional consultation, we will ask for the suggestions and opinions of all relevant professional organizations and institutions, and we will involve them in the preparation of calls for tenders and support schemes based on the practice of the past years, the minister pointed out.

The head of the department informed that the announcement of the first tender can start from February 2024, primarily with constructions related to forestry

The first tender package for agricultural and food industry investments may be published in March, which includes calls to support investments in the food industry, feed industry, horticulture and animal husbandry. At the beginning of spring, we also plan to start our ecologically important land use change subsidies, for which the possibility of using a multi-year maintenance subsidy will then open up. The call to help generation change can be prepared by the summer, while the rural development tender constructions are expected by the fall. In addition to all this, we are timing the announcement of another investment tender package by the end of the year, which will help precision farming or the technological renewal of crop cleaning and drying, the minister listed. He also pointed out that the announced tenders will provide an opportunity for small, medium and large farms alike to respond to the economic and market changes of the past two years, to make their production more efficient or even to open up in the direction of standing on more than one foot. With the grants, we will implement 11 professional programs that help economic development, the creation of the conditions for a green future, and the renewable countryside. By 2027, we will spend 1,500 billion forints on economic development and 1,000 billion forints on creating the conditions for a green future – added István Nagy. According to the minister, we have the strength and the means available to set Hungarian agriculture and the food industry on a new path. Our goal is that by 2030 the productivity of agriculture will increase to one and a half times, the added value will double, and exports will increase by 50 percent to 15 billion euros.

AM