National campaign to promote the consumption of rabbit meat

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At the event, Zsolt Papp, Deputy Secretary of State responsible for the implementation of rural development programs of the Ministry of Agriculture, Gergely Giczi, Deputy Managing Director of the Agricultural Marketing Center, and Róbert Juráskó, President of the Nyúl Interprofessional Organization and Product Council, held a press conference. Master chef Róbert Bede offered those interested with more than 500 servings of delicious rabbit tasting prepared in the show kitchen set up on site.

Zsolt Papp, the Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the aim of the ministry, also in the case of rabbit breeding, is to position and strengthen the producers

In the past period, it was able to help with de minimis support in the amount of HUF 150 million per year, support for animal health services, and through the resources of the Rural Development Program. The Rural Development Program paid special attention to improving the competitiveness of livestock farms, including rabbit farms, with the help of numerous calls for tenders. As part of this, more than HUF 3.1 billion in subsidies have been paid out to 27 subsidy applications, which were specifically submitted by rabbit farms for the development of their premises or the establishment of a rabbit meat processing plant (slaughterhouse). In the coming years, the further development of the sector will be able to continue with funds that can be tendered within the framework of the KAP Strategic Plan, among other things, with investment subsidies of a similar nature as in the previous period. The new calls for tenders for rural development are expected at the end of this year and in 2024.

We should eat rabbit meat more often

Róbert Juráskó, the president of the Rabbit Product Council, reported that the goal of the campaign is to introduce consumers to this easily digestible, low-fat, healthy and tasty white meat, so that rabbit meat is on the table of Hungarian families at least once a week. Many people do not know that rabbit meat does not contain any allergenic substances, babies can eat it from the age of 4 months, which is why it is available in the range of several baby food manufacturers. Another important piece of information is that rabbit meat has the highest protein content among all types of meat, and we can rightly say that rabbit meat is the protein source of the 21st century. The favorable nutritional and physiological effects of rabbit meat make it suitable for consumption by dieters, small children and the elderly. Gergely Giczi, deputy managing director of the Agrármarketing Centrum, highlighted that in 2017 the Agrármarketing Centrum organized the first consumption promotion campaign to promote rabbit meat, which until now has five more times followed. According to experience so far, as a result of promotional campaigns, people are becoming more and more open to eating rabbit meat, and more and more people are also realizing that rabbit meat plays a significant role in nutrition due to its outstanding vitamin and protein content. The campaigns also point out that rabbit meat can be prepared in a much more varied way, not only as rabbit peppers or venison.

AM/AMC/Rabbit Interprofessional Organization and Product Council