István Nagy: the government significantly supports the renewal of agriculture

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As he said, the government is providing tools, securing resources for technological developments, and providing support for those engaged in irrigated farming or young farmers, targeting even the smallest producers. He pointed out that the success of the national government’s agricultural policy is due to the fact that it strives for a balance in the field of subsidies and protects and helps the smallest and young producers. Regarding the latter, he stated that “generational change is extremely important”, and in this spirit, a new 79 billion forint subsidy is being announced to help young agricultural producers start up and invest. The amount of the non-refundable subsidy is 14.6 million forints for the freely usable element, and up to 75 million forints can be spent on investments certified by invoices, with an exceptionally high 70 percent subsidy intensity, he emphasized. Regarding the applications to improve the efficiency of water use and support irrigation development investments, he said: from the beginning of February, small producers can apply for a budget of 16.5 billion forints and receive up to 200 million forints in support, while for larger agricultural enterprises, a budget of approximately 50 billion forints has been announced, and the support here can range from 200 million to 5 billion forints. István Nagy, referring to the coronavirus epidemic, the war and the drought years, emphasized: the government perceived the dangers of the recent period, therefore “it provided all possible assistance to the farming community”, and decided to increase the level of national co-financing to a maximum level of 80 percent in addition to EU funds.

This will enable farmers to have 2,900 billion forints of investment resources at their disposal by 2027

The Minister of Agriculture pointed out that since producers are “the most important actors in agriculture (…) and the population owes them affordable and safe food”, the government remains committed to representing their interests and maintaining their support. He reported that 32 tenders have already been announced from the calls to support the competitiveness and productivity of agriculture and forestry with a budget of approximately 1,260 billion forints, thus starting the implementation of the Hungarian strategic plan of the EU’s common agricultural policy. In addition to the classic investment-type calls, there have also been calls for proposals supporting animal genetic conservation and animal welfare measures, as well as calls for forest managers and calls regulating compensatory subsidies for farmers in Natura 2000 areas, he explained. Regarding last year’s tenders, he said that the tenders announced for the development of processing plants and livestock farms were extremely popular among agricultural investments, and there was also great interest in the programs supporting agri-environmental management and organic farming. Almost 26 thousand tenders were received for the latter two tenders, covering an area of ​​about two million hectares, he said. He announced that the ministry is preparing about forty tender calls this year, and the schedule can already be found on the kap.gov.hu ​​website. This includes the tenders already announced so far, as well as the upcoming tenders. In the framework of all this, the support for the adaptation of Hungarian agriculture to changed climatic conditions will continue, as well as the support for developments that create the greatest possible added value, and the plans of the smallest farms and young farmers will continue to be given special support.

In the spring, the smallest farmers can expect a new opportunity through investment support for small agricultural farms

Farmers will have the opportunity to make investments in animal husbandry, gardening or the processing of agricultural products – up to 10 million forints – and to purchase production-supporting machinery. In summary, he said: this year, a total of 790 billion forints is available for payments related to agricultural and rural development subsidies, so after the 30 applications announced last year, at least 40 more are expected. He mentioned that the ministry will also assume part of the farmers’ costs related to borrowing in the form of non-refundable support; interest costs will be reimbursed up to a maximum of 10 and 5 percent of the eligible costs of the projects, respectively. He announced that the ministry is preparing around forty calls for proposals this year, and the schedule can already be found on the kap.gov.hu ​​website. This includes the calls that have already been announced, as well as the upcoming calls. In the framework of all this, the support for the adaptation of Hungarian agriculture to changed climatic conditions and the support for developments that create the greatest added value will continue, and the plans of the smallest farms and young farmers will continue to be given special support. In the spring, the smallest farmers can expect a new opportunity through investment support for small agricultural enterprises. Farmers will have the opportunity to make investments related to animal husbandry, gardening or the processing of agricultural products – up to 10 million forints – and to purchase production-supporting machinery. In summary, he said that this year a total of 790 billion forints is available for payments related to agricultural and rural development support, so after the 30 calls announced last year, at least 40 more are expected. He mentioned that the ministry will also assume part of the costs of farmers taking out loans in the form of non-refundable support; interest costs will be reimbursed up to 10 percent and 5 percent of the eligible costs of the projects, respectively. He said that the ministry is initiating with the banking supervision that the necessary equity for the applications that have been won and have a supporting document can be raised from loans more quickly and easily than before, so that the won application “serves as a guarantee element for the banks,” he said.

MTI