750 billion forints (EUR 2.4bn) more funding will be available for Hungarian agricultural and rural development during the upcoming European Union financial period than in the previous one, the Minister of State for Agricultural Economy announced at a professional event in Cegléd, Central Hungary.

György Czerván stressed that the European Union is providing some 570 billion forints (EUR 1.8bn) in extra funding for the Hungarian agricultural economy in the 2014-2020 period, while the Government would be contributing a further 180bn forints from the national budget to farmers involved in animal husbandry during the next seven years. Although the EU agriculture budget has decreased by 11 percent, Hungary will be receiving a larger slice compared to the other 27 member states. Our share of the total budget is increasing from 2.4 percent to 3.2 percent, which will clearly improve our competitiveness.

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The Minister of State confirmed that the new system would come into effect from 1 January 2015 and farmers will be able to apply for 2015 funding according to the new terms and conditions.
The SAPS (Single Area Payment Scheme) system of direct funding may be applied until the end of 2020, which means that all farmers with at least one hectare of land are eligible for flat-rate funding based on the size of their farms, which they can apply for within the given year. Supplementary to the basic funding, farmers may also receive an almost similar amount of funding – 226 euros or 67,800 forints – from the green component budget. The exact sum will vary year-by-year according to the official exchange rate, Mr. Czerván emphasised.

The Minister of State also pointed out that the Hungarian Government has made use of the opportunity that the EU has provided to redirect 15% of rural development funding to direct funding, thus increasing basic funding and the funding available for greening per hectare by a further 12 euros.

In view of the fact that the Government’s objective is still to boost labour-intensive agricultural sectors and the preservation and creation of jobs, a total of 212 billion forints (EUR 670 million) in additional job-creation funding will be provided until 2020 for animal husbandry (milk, meat cattle, pigs, poultry and sheep), of which 180 billion forints will be derived from the national budget. This will counterbalance the reduction in income that large animal husbandry units may experience as a result of the redirection of basic funding.

It is very important to note that the SAPS-based greening budget, additional funding for young farmers, production-based funding and simplified funding for small farms are totally unaffected by degressivity, Minister of State Czerván stressed.

(Ministry of Agriculture)