“A three-year research & development programme is being launched in the interests of fully replacing imported genetically manipulated soy in Hungarian animal feeds”, the Minister of Agriculture announced on Monday.
Sándor Fazekas explained that the final goal of the programme is the development of a GMO-free food chain, part of which is the three-year research and envelopment plan, which will have a budget of 8 billion forints (EUR 26 million). Only safe foods that have been produced in a sustainable manner while preserving biodiversity can reach people’s dinner tables in Hungary, he explained. “One of the prerequisite for this is that Hungary must produce the highest possible quantities of food ingredients that are free from genetically modified organisms”, Mr. Fazekas explained.
The Minister told reporters that further research and development tasks must be performed as part of the programme, which are expected to achieve significant results within the next 4-5 years. “Some solutions that we can rely on already exist, however, including the fact that the production area for GMO-free soya beans has increased by some 70 percent in recent years to exceed 70 thousand hectares”, he said. “This is thanks to the new EU Common Agricultural policy (CAP), in view of the fact that this area may be given a higher level of EU funding”, he added.
The Minister said the production of alternative feeds and feed crops is also important. “For instance, larger quantities of the by-products of corn and sunflower processing must be utilised, in addition to which other leguminous plants apart from soy must be given a greater role in producing animal feeds”, he explained. “This should further improve the competitiveness of agriculture and could result in a significant increase in jobs in rural areas”, Mr. Fazekas said.
Deputy State secretary for Agricultural Economy Zsolt Feldman highlighted the fact that during the development of the new Common Agricultural Policy the Hungarian Agriculture Ministry had made a significant effort to assure that production-based funding facilitates the cultivation of protein crops, thanks to which the production of fibre and grain protein crops has seen a sharp increase recently. This year, 4200 farmers submitted requests for funding with relation to soya production on 70 thousand hectares, in addition to which the increased funding is also a major incentive for the cultivation of other leguminous plants, he told reporters.
Stressing the importance of the National Protein Feed Programme, Mr. Feldman pointed out that while Hungarian farmers require the equivalent of some 840 thousand tons of soy-based feeds every year, Hungary only produces 181 thousand tons of soya beans last year, some of which was exported. “The need to produce protein crops was also set down in the European Soy Declaration, which was signed in Brussels this summer. Farmers in Hungary receive some 8 billion forints (EUR 26 million) in funding with relation to the production of protein crops”, the Deputy State Secretary said.
Director-General of the National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre (NAIK) Csaba Gyuricza stressed that the National Protein Feed Programme is not equivalent to the Soy programme. “In the interests of enabling Hungary’s demand for soy and the proteins required for feed to be fully met via domestic production, we need to be able to produce soya on some 240 thousand hectares. Realistically, however, in the upcoming years we cannot expect to be able to realise soya production on a cultivation area of more than 100 thousand hectares”, he said, explaining that the Protein Feed Programme handles the issue in a complex manner, meaning that the programme is also aimed at promoting the cultivation of alternative protein crops such as peas, field beans and alfalfa, finding opportunities to increase production area, as well as facilitating the transposition of innovative, new feed production technologies.
The Director-General told reporters that domestically produced raw materials for protein feeds must replace the import of some 500-550 thousand tons of genetically modified soy, which according to experts is a realistic target if, for instance, the by-products generated during the processing of corn/maize and sunflower seeds are also utilised. In addition to creating jobs, the realisation of the Protein Feed Programme could also generate an addition 80-100 billion forint (EUR 260-325 million) in revenues for Hungary’s national economy, in view of the fact that the output of Hungarian agriculture could increase by this order of magnitude.
(Ministry of Agriculture Press Office/MTI)
