István Nagy: change is needed in Hungarian agriculture

(Photo: drnagyistvan.hu)

Speaking about international challenges, he highlighted his meeting with Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Tarasz Kacska on Wednesday, at which they agreed that Hungary would continue to keep its borders closed to Ukrainian agricultural products, because if the products were allowed in, the Hungarian market would collapse. Hungary rejects the Brussels budget draft because by accepting the proposal for financing European agriculture, they would abandon European agriculture and reallocate European farmers’ money to Ukraine. This draft would make the future of Hungarian and EU farmers impossible, he said. The free trade agreement between the EU and South American countries also poses new dangers for Hungarian farmers, as the European Union would be flooded with new products coming from uncontrolled circumstances, the minister said.

He also mentioned that it is also a huge difficulty that uncontrolled false information appears in virtual space, and correcting it takes a lot of time

Among the domestic challenges of agriculture, he highlighted the early spring frost, which caused 80-100 percent damage to orchards, foot-and-mouth disease, which caused the death of almost 10 thousand cattle and the same number of pigs, and bird flu, which caused great damage in the southern Great Plain area. Peste de petits ruminants and equine herpes also appeared, and the African swine fever virus emerging on the southern border was a serious concern, he added, noting that the year did not spare winegrowers either, with grape yellows, spread by the American grapevine cicada, appearing in 14 wine regions. In addition to epidemics, drought was the biggest challenge, he said. After forecasts predicted that the EU’s hottest summer would be expected, the government formed the Drought Protection Operational Group and reallocated 4.7 billion forints to repair canals so that as much water as possible could be stored, so there is now 990 thousand cubic meters of water in the reservoirs. The government also decided to take over the water fee from farmers for 10 billion forints. In the driest year of 2022, drought damage was reported on 579,178 thousand hectares, affecting 22 thousand customers, and this year, in the hottest summer, this number has not yet reached 400 thousand hectares – he added. So far, 1,300 successful applications have been used to renew the irrigation infrastructure with 178 billion forints of application resources, and there are currently ongoing applications – he said. He highlighted that the agriculture of the 21st century is now being founded with all its difficulties and there is no better answer to the challenges than development.

Farmers are not alone in this, if they want to embark on the path of change, the government will provide them with the resources and solutions for this – said the minister. According to the fair director László Vaszkó, the aim of the event, which takes place on a gross area of ​​approximately 4,000 square meters, is for farmers to gain as much knowledge as possible and find connections, but the Farmer Expo is also a mirror of the agricultural economy, which we have to look into every day to know whether there is anything to be done in the sector. Exhibitors from all over the country, even from Poland, have arrived at the event, which will last until Saturday, and interested parties can see about 100 horses, 80 cattle, 60 sheep, and poultry and rabbits, whose number is expected to reach 20,000 this year.

MTI