Never before have so many resources reached the Hungarian countryside – the government is further strengthening agriculture

By: STA Date: 2025. 10. 16. 09:40

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Nearly four hundred thousand applications were supported, more than 2,942 billion forints from EU and domestic sources under the Rural Development Program announced in the previous EU budget cycle, the last subsidies of which will be paid by the end of this year. With this, we have implemented the largest volume of rural development program since the change of regime – stated József Viski, State Secretary responsible for agricultural and rural development subsidies, at the “Rural Conference 2025” event of Századvég Konjunktúrakutató Zrt.

(Photo: Pixabay)

The State Secretary highlighted that the Rural Development Program was not just the next program of a subsidy cycle, but a set of future-oriented investments that fundamentally contributed to the livability and development of the Hungarian countryside, and not least to the strengthening of domestic food security. “The strategic goal of this period was to improve rural living conditions in order to increase the population retention capacity of the countryside. Moreover, there was a significant shift in the structure of agriculture, as the production of higher value-added products came into focus,” he added. According to József Viski, due to the government’s measures, there has never been such a large allocation of resources, and there have never been so many winning applications related to rural development calls, as between 2021 and 2023. These resources have significantly contributed to making agricultural enterprises more efficient and resilient amid the variability of the natural and economic environment. Farmers have unique opportunities in the current EU cycle to implement their developments and investments, while strengthening producer liquidity is also important. Advance payments, subsidized loan structures, and interest cost support help producers. He also mentioned that in the agricultural support period starting in 2023, thanks to 80 percent domestic co-financing, a total of 5,651 billion forints will be available to farmers. Based on the government’s decision, 3,153 billion forints of this can be used for agricultural and rural development purposes, so that the period of future-oriented investments can continue. In the longer term, we must insist that the same independent two-pillar common agricultural policy continue in the next EU term. The current position of EU leaders is that this should be abolished and agricultural resources should be merged into the common EU budget. This is unacceptable for Hungary, as it makes agriculture and the countryside impossible, he added.