Policy issues at Farmer Expo

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According to István Nagy, Minister of Agriculture, the demand for sheep meat is increasing in Europe, and changing climatic conditions also create opportunities for the sector to grow. There are several support options available to sheep and goat farmers, but despite this, few submit their applications. – One of the conditions for the competitiveness of the sector is to be able to deliver products to the markets at the highest possible level of processing. That is why we support slaughterhouses and investments related to meat processing. We are also examining the possibilities of using wool, including in the automotive, textile, construction and even soil improvement industries, the minister said. The agricultural minister added that those involved in the sector can be proud that Hungarian lamb is becoming increasingly popular and sought after abroad. The main export destination is still Italy, but there is significant interest in sheep and lamb products from other Western European countries: France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Thanks to its excellent quality, Hungarian exports are competitive with EU imports from New Zealand and the United Kingdom. István Nagy said that the future of the sheep sector depends not only on the government and breeders, it is important that society also has a greater demand for food made from sheep and goats, as the meat of small ruminants is an extremely healthy and low-cholesterol source of protein.

The minister emphasized: if the sector has the vision, the intention, the will, the unity, the government can provide all the support

– Animal husbandry has undergone a dynamic transformation in recent years, but the sheep sector has lagged behind in development and innovation. Since 2017, the number of domestic ewes has decreased by 230 thousand, and the number of shepherds in Hungary by a thousand. Our sheep sector is constantly shrinking, struggling with problems in almost every area – human resources, genetics, feeding, animal health. These problems must be solved, the process must be stopped. After all, there is no product in Hungary that has such a market. We strive to make sheep farming more rational, more efficient, more attractive to young people and more profitable – emphasized András Jávor, professor emeritus of the University of Debrecen, at the professional event. The Rector’s Chief Advisor added that the university’s animal husbandry training area has played a major role in agricultural higher education and research. However, the sector has been struggling with animal health problems almost continuously in the past year. In his opinion, this is precisely why the launch of the animal health engineering training planned by the University of Debrecen has a right to exist. At the professional event titled Challenges facing the sheep sector: timely questions and answers, researchers from the University of Debrecen presented their scientific results obtained within the framework of the Eurosheep and Sm@rt programs, as well as innovative technologies relevant to the domestic market.

The central theme of the Farmer Expo professional events is climate change

The conference, jointly organized by the Faculty of Economics (GTK) and the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Management (MÉK), dealt with agro-climatic conditions, the opportunities of domestic irrigated farming, the challenges of regional water management and the results of the Drought Protection Operational Team so far.

DE