Battling with weather extremities

Dr. Ferenc Apáti 
resident
FruitVeB Hungarian
Interprofessional Organisation for Fruit and Vegetable

In Hungary fruits and vegetables are grown in the value of HUF 350-400 billion – from this HUF 80-100 billion is the output of fruit farming and HUF 150-200 billion is vegetable production. According to Dr Ferenc Apáti, president of the FruitVeB Hungarian Interprofessional Organisation for Fruit and Vegetable, profitability varies according to fruit and vegetable types, plus the often extreme weather and the volatility of purchasing prices also have great influence on the business results of growers. He added that the European Union’s greening strategy, plus the rapidly growing input and building material prices – the price increase is often 100-200 percent – make production significantly costlier.

Fruit and vegetable consumption has stalled

In the last year lots of funding opportunities opened up for fruit and vegetable growers, which can help in their modernisation efforts. As for fruit and vegetable consumption, it had been growing – although at a moderate speed – in the last 10 years, but the COVID and the price increase resulting from the relative product shortage caused by extreme weather stopped the consumption growth. FruitVeB’s president explained: the lack of workforce causes further problems in the sector. To make things worse, in the past 10-15 years the weather changed for the worse: frost and storms are more and more frequent in the spring, precipitation conditions are extreme and the temperature characteristics have also changed. Development projects must also be realised with the purpose of dealing with this problem. //

The above article has also been published in Issue 2021/12-01 of Trade magazin.