The competitiveness of the Hungarian economy cannot be improved without the sector of agriculture, János Lázár stated in Hódmezővásárhely.

EU funds worth HUF 3,800 billion were pumped into Hungarian agriculture between 2007 and 2013, however, the productivity of the sector has not changed perceivably, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office said at the farmers’ forum held in Hódmezővásárhely. The bulk of the EU grants was not used for technological developments, but for the replacement of income losses, the politician who also acts as Member of Parliament for the constituency said.

Mr Lázár highlighted that if there is no development, there is no competitive agriculture, and therefore the available funds should be used primarily for the upgrading of technology and modernisation.

The Minister believes it is a major achievement that Hungary has managed to retain arable land in national ownership. He added: “the great challenge of the next ten years will be to defend this achievement”. He pointed out at the same time that, notwithstanding this achievement, “not everything is absolutely in order” in the entire agriculture sector, given that a considerable percentage of agricultural machinery and of the artificial fertilizers and chemicals used is of foreign origin, as are the businesses purchasing agricultural produce and retail networks.

According to Mr Lázár, the sector should be re-regulated in order to create opportunities – for instance, via consumer protection tools – for Hungarian foodstuff retailers.

State Secretary for agricultural and rural development Miklós Zsolt Kis highlighted in his lecture that more than ninety per cent of the agricultural and rural development funds worth HUF 1,300 billion that is accessible during the current EU fiscal cycle is already available, and all remaining calls for proposals will be published by March. He added: decisions have already been adopted with respect to some HUF 450 billion.

There were a number of calls for proposals where the applications received exceeded the available grants several times over, the State Secretary said. He mentioned as an example the development grants made available to the municipalities of localities with a population of less than ten thousand for municipal landscaping, in response to which municipalities submitted proposals worth three times the allocation of HUF 27 billion.

Mr Kis said that, following the verification of eligibility, the assessment for content of food industry, municipal and horticultural proposals as well as proposals serving the modernisation of animal breeding facilities will also begin, and will be completed by the spring and the beginning of the summer.

Among the calls for proposals that are still open, the State Secretary mentioned the grants available for the planting of vines. As part of this, as expected, there will be scope for the planting of new grape-bearing vines on up to 650 hectares annually in the territory of the country, based on EU regulations.

The politician stressed that the improvement of the security and efficiency of production is key for Hungary. One of the means to achieve this is the development of irrigation. However, only requests amounting to HUF 11 billion have been received in response to the allocation of HUF 50 billion available for the purpose. One of the reasons being that there is no sewerage or adequate sewerage in the areas concerned which, however, could be developed from other EU funds, he added.

Fourteen calls for proposals worth more than HUF 84 billion will be published in the coming weeks, inter alia, for the establishment of producers groups, the operation of consulting systems, the promotion of research and development activities suited to producer needs, and the development of local markets and public catering services, Mr Kis said.

(MTI)