The sow area in Hungary has doubled

By: STA Date: 2024. 08. 27. 09:30

We need a common European strategy that can reduce and, in the long term, even eliminate our existing dependence on imports for protein feed, so we need to further increase the area sown with GMO-free protein crops, said Greyhound Minister István Nagy at the Újmohác station of the Szója Roadshow on Tuesday.

(Photo: AM/István Fekete)

In his speech, the head of the ministry emphasized that one of the keys to successful soybean cultivation is the availability of varieties with high yield potential that have been bred for local conditions. In our country, there are good opportunities for farmers to choose varieties, for example, the Community Variety Catalog offered 746 varieties this year. Of these, the authority responsible for variety registration was convinced that 52 varieties were grown under domestic conditions after at least two or three years of testing, as these are also found in the National Variety Register, he added. He explained that in Hungary, in the case of production-related support for the crop growing sectors, claims were submitted for grain protein crop support in an area exceeding 120,000 hectares, of which more than 111,000 hectares were soybeans. The store manager called it a serious result that the sowing area has now doubled compared to 58,000 hectares in 2023.

István Nagy emphasized: the goal of the agricultural ministry is to replace the hundreds of thousands of tons of imported soybean meal per year and to create a GMO-free feed base

Therefore, in addition to the sustainable expansion of cultivation, domestic processing must also be developed, for which we have support policy tools at our disposal. In the case of cereal protein crops, the form of support linked to production in the amount of 15.9 million euros per year is still available to farmers in addition to the basic support and the redistribution support. The minister also touched on the fact that the KAP Strategic Plan will continue to receive priority resources in the following years for the promotion of the value increase of agricultural products and the development of the processing industry. The food industry, which is considered a strategic sector in Hungary, can still count on significant resources. The Ministry of Agriculture has already announced the related two tenders – with a total amount of HUF 200 billion. One supports smaller and the other larger-scale developments, and applications for the former can be submitted from August 13, added István Nagy. At the event, the Minister of Agriculture presented the Gábor Seiwerth award, which this year was accepted by Attila Vadász.