“The Government’s policies are confirmed by the fact that Hungarian food industry exports have increased by 37 percent over the past five years”, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas said on Monday in Herceghalom.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Hungarian Animal Breeders Association, Mr. Fazekas said that the animal breeding sector is receiving an additional 180 billion euros in European Union funding during the 2014-2020 programming period. “The Government is doing its utmost to exploit all available opportunities to ensure that Hungarian farmers receive as much of this money as possible”, the Minister said.
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“Thanks to the joint efforts of the Government and farmers, favourable processes began in Hungarian agriculture following 2010, as a result of which the sector is continuously gaining strength. Agriculture once again made an outstanding contribution to the economic growth achieved in 2016. Restoring the imbalance between animal husbandry and crop production, and the development of animal breeding, had become one of the central elements of the Government’s agriculture policy”, Mr. Fazekas pointed out.
With regard to the state of the pig sector, Mr. Fazekas said he trusted that the sector would achieve renewed success, in the interests of which the Government has earmarked a budget of 1.2 billion forints (EUR 3.9M). The sector remained competitive during the crisis, but pig stocks have not yet achieved the required level, he added.
The Minister of Agriculture called on those present to send their experiences with relation to the VAT cut to the ministry via the various marketing boards in the interests of helping the work of the administration, and to enable the data to help justify further reductions in the VAT of other products. Mr. Fazekas said that at current prices Hungarian agricultural output had increased by over 50 percent during the past six years, thanks to the efforts of the administration and farmers.
Following his speech, the Minister presented “For Hungarian Animal Breeding” awards, which have been presented by the Hungarian Animal Breeders Association every year since 2014.
(Ministry of Agriculture Press Office)
