NAK President: Sowing in agriculture is about the future

(Photo: Pixabay)

Zsolt Papp recalled that last year was full of challenges, difficulties and troubles. He mentioned drought, spring frosts and various animal diseases as examples, for which “we paid expensive tuition”. The NAK President also thanked the farmers for staying on their feet despite all this. According to the President, the Sowing Day is about discussing when to sow, in what soil and with what seeds, but it is equally important that the joint thinking between farmers and the government continues. There is reason to be grateful for the past 16 years, or just the past four years, when “with 80 percent co-financing, thousands of billions of forints are being allocated to the countryside and agriculture for developments, so that there are new tools, machines, livestock farms or new plantations,” he said, adding: perhaps it is even more important to have a domestic processing industry, “so that we know who we want to produce for.” Zsolt Papp emphasized that Hungarian farmers and the Hungarian countryside need to renew cooperation again and again, and also swear to protect the rural economy network, because they are threatened every day with the abolition of membership, the abolition of membership fees, and the loss of the entire network. He noted that they are present in 1,261 settlements with more than 700 rural economists and consultants, so they can take over the daily administrative tasks of more than 100,000 family farmers, and even now they can write applications for free.

The president emphasized that they are trying to protect the Hungarian countryside, their markets and resources from the Mercosur agreement

To this end, they collected nearly 260,000 signatures in a short time. He believed that they could take another step in these matters on April 12, when “a wise decision must be made that will last until the harvest with what has been sown now”. István Jakab, president of the Hungarian Farmers’ Association and Farmers’ Cooperatives Association (MAGOSZ), said that they have been fighting together for decades, but now Brussels has presented them with challenges and decisive moments that will determine their lives in the long term, and even for future generations. He mentioned their fight against Ukraine’s accession, the Mercosur agreement, which “can only be resolved with joint efforts”. István Becze, president of the Székely Farmers’ Association, emphasized that the survival of Hungarians beyond the border depends on the survival of the countryside, which the Hungarian government recognized and stood by Hungarian farmers beyond the border. He indicated that Hungarians have two million hectares of land in their hands outside the borders of the motherland, which they will protect with all their might. The National Chamber of Agriculture – with the cooperation of the National Association of Agricultural Equipment and Machinery Distributors – is organizing the Sowing Day as a leading event of the NAK Arable Land Days and Agricultural Machinery Show (June 3-4). The program also includes a sowing technology demonstration and a professional roundtable discussion.

MTI