Speaking at a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Helsinki, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture István Nagy drew attention to the fact that farmers must be protected and provided with support to enable them to provide suitable solutions to the challenges posed by climate change.

In an interview on Hungarian M1 television’s Wednesday morning current affairs program, the Minister stressed: “We cannot ask farmers to contribute to reducing climate change in accordance with social expectations if we do not give them sufficient funding to do so”.

The primary target of discussion at the meeting was to ensure that the resources available to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are not reduced, enabling farmers to be given funding towards technological development and agrotechnical equipment that facilitate carbon sequestration. Mr. Nagy put forward a proposal according to which the EU must not enable imports of products from outside the European Union, the production of which significantly contribute to the negative effects of climate change.

The Minister of Agriculture also spoke about the fact that the Hungarian Government is increasing the level of the country’s forestation from 22 percent to 27 percent via a national forestation programme, in connection to which this year the Ministry has doubled the amount of income-supplementing funding that may be applied for with relation to forestation, as well as increasing the period within which funding may be applied.

Speaking on Kossuth radio’s “Good Morning, Hungary!” show, Mr. Nagy said the National Agriculture and Food Industry Exhibition (OMÉK) will be held from 26-29 September, at which the latest innovations will also be showcased. “The event also provides an opportunity to thank farmers, and to raise young people’s interest with relation to agriculture”, he added.

(MTI)