A record amount of agricultural payments in Hungarian agriculture this year

(Photo: AM/Tibor Vermes)

Zsolt Feldman, in his presentation on the current affairs of the agricultural subsidy system, said about the agricultural and rural development tenders starting in 2024: in the case of direct area-based subsidies, a total of HUF 194 billion was paid as an advance in 2023, more than 82 percent of the applicants, about 136 thousand for the producer. This rate is the same as last year’s similar data, he noted. The basic subsidy was paid to 135,000 producers in the amount of HUF 139.6 billion, and the redistributive subsidy in the amount of HUF 41 billion was given to 133,000 farmers – explained the state secretary. Zsolt Feldman said that in the framework of the Rural Development Program, an average of HUF 6.7 billion was paid out per week, while in 2023 the weekly payment will be HUF 13.7 billion.

In relation to the 2024 rural development tenders, the state secretary said that the government plans to use nearly HUF 1,500 billion

52 percent of this will be used for economic development the economic development measures include the development of agricultural farms up to 26 percent of the fund, the development of food processing up to 17 percent of the fund, business development and support for generational renewal up to 7 percent of the fund, agricultural water management up to 2 percent of the fund, and the risk management system is dealt with by 1 percent of the fund – informed.

Regarding the tenders, he said that the amount of support will be a maximum of 15 million euros per project, small and large projects will be announced in separate calls

The intensity of the support will be 50 percent, to which additional support intensities are connected, for example, an additional 15 percent in the case of young agricultural producers, and an additional 10 percent in the case of producer cooperation. Farm transfer plus 15 percent and ecological farming plus 10 percent as intensity boosters appear as new elements. Zsolt Feldman explained: the cost of the guaranty is five percent, the interest cost settlement can be 10 percent as a guideline, a maximum intensity of 65 percent in total, and a maximum of 80 percent intensity can be achieved in the case of non-productive investment. He explained that the rules for applying for advance payments will be more favorable, instead of the previous 50 percent of agricultural sales, 40 percent will be enough in the future, and the obligation to maintain a base workforce will also disappear. MTI