István Nagy: more than 2,900 billion forints reached farmers in the new agricultural support cycle

According to a statement sent to MTI by the Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday, the Minister stated that Hungary used the entire 3,000 billion forints of the Rural Development Program, which ended at the end of last year, without any loss of resources.

Thanks to this, 393 thousand support documents reached the beneficiaries

The significance of the program is shown by the implemented investments, which fundamentally contributed to the livability and development of the Hungarian countryside, as well as to strengthening food security. The strategic goal of this period was to improve rural living conditions in order to strengthen the retention capacity of the population, and in addition, the structure of agriculture also shifted significantly, as greater emphasis was placed on the production of higher value-added products.

Between 2021 and 2023, the government provided an unprecedented amount of resources for rural development calls, with an unprecedented number of winning applications

These subsidies significantly strengthened the efficiency and resilience of agricultural enterprises in the changing natural and economic environment – added the Minister of Agriculture. István Nagy explained that the current EU cycle also offers producers unique opportunities to implement their developments and investments, while strengthening producer liquidity is also important. Advance payments, subsidized loan structures and interest cost subsidies all help agricultural actors. During the agricultural support period of the Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan, thanks to 80 percent Hungarian co-financing, a total of 5,650 billion forints is available to farmers. Of this, 3,150 billion forints can be used for agricultural and rural development purposes, based on the government’s decision, to continue strengthening the competitiveness of Hungarian agriculture. The implementation of the new cycle is progressing at the right pace, with the Ministry of Agriculture having already awarded more than 92 percent of the budget amount, i.e. 2,900 billion forints in support, by the beginning of January this year, with 102,000 support documents – the Minister announced.

MTI