Another wave of development is expected in the horticulture sector

By: STA Date: 2024. 09. 06. 10:00

To support the planting of fruit, medicinal and herb plantations from September 10; and for the development of horticultural greenhouses, cold stores, vegetable and potato storage facilities and support for related post-harvest developments, grant applications can be submitted from September 24, said Zsolt Feldman on Friday in Szentes, the XIII. Hungarian Paprika Day.

State Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development Zsolt Feldman (Photo: AM/Tibor Vermes)

The Secretary of State responsible for agriculture and rural development of the Ministry of Agriculture explained that the market demand for fresh vegetables produced in propagating cultivation is increasing within the horticulture sector, which requires continuous production and transportation to meet it, and therefore the increase and modernization of greenhouse production capacity is justified.

The covered growing areas provide high production security in the changed climatic conditions

According to Zsolt Feldman, the most important government tool for this is to support the spread and development of new, innovative and environmentally friendly cultivation and production technologies, and to improve the efficiency of energy use. The call for tenders for horticultural greenhouses, cold storages and post-harvest developments is HUF 50 billion. In addition, HUF 25.2 billion can be used to support the planting of plantations and medicinal plants within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy Strategy Plan. he drew attention. He also mentioned that more than 7,000 investments in the horticultural sector have been supported by the decision to allocate 185 billion forints in the Rural Development Program since 2015. The winning applicants could use the support for technology development, the purchase of machines, the establishment of glass and foil houses, the planting of plantations, and the creation of mushroom and cold houses.

In his presentation, Feldman Zsolt praised the exemplary work of the Southern Gardeners’ Cooperative in the fruit and vegetable sector

There are 49 fruit and vegetable producer organizations in Hungary with 4,000 producers. In addition to their priority support, the government is also committed, in 2023 HUF 4.1 billion in national support and HUF 1.6 billion in EU financial support were paid to them for investments, research, consulting, training or even promotion that improve the market position of producers.