"Last year, agriculture was the engine of Hungarian economic growth, its output increased by 22 percent compared to the previous year and the sector contributed 4.8 percent to gross added value", the Ministry of Rural Development's Minister of State for Agricultural Economy György Czerván said at a farmers' forum in western Hungary.

With regard to expected European Union funding for the next 7-year financial period, Mr. Czerván said that while funding for agriculture and rural development will be falling by 48 billion euros within the EU as a whole, Hungary has succeeded in achieving an increase of 1.9 billion euros, which will improve the country's competitiveness.

According to the further details provided by the Minister of State, area-based SAPS funding is expected to be 127 euros/hectare/year, which may be supplemented by a further 77 euros if farmers conform to environmental criteria, the so-called "greening" requirements, in addition to which young farmers can count on receiving a further 64 euros per hectare in funding.

At the farmers' forum in Őriszentpéter, the Ministry of Rural Development's Minister of State for Rural Development and the region's Fidesz Party candidate for the upcoming elections, Zsolt V. Németh, said that rural development priorities include facilitating knowledge transfer and innovation, helping local products reach the market, near-to-nature farming and reducing poverty.

Mr. Németh added that although the funding directly available for rural development will decrease somewhat during the upcoming financial period, the plan is to enable supplementary fund to be available for rural development purposes via other programmes for which agricultural businesses have not been able to apply until now. He mentioned as an example the EU's energy efficiency and environmental programmes.

Several farmers at the forum voiced their opinions regarding the fact that farmland rental prices are too high, and suggested that a maximum level should be determined for such fees wither centrally or region-by-region. One farmer in particular complained that he was paying much more than the market price because he had no choice but to rent the land he uses for farming from its Austrian owner. Minister of State Czerván said that it was conceivable that a region limit could be set to prevent the increase of rental prices, which, according to Mr. Czerván, are currently determined by supply and demand.

The concrete case mentioned at the forum in which a Hungarian farmer rents the Hungarian farmland he uses from its Austrian owner will be investigated by the Ministry, because it is unlikely that a transaction of this kind can have a legal basis.

(MTI/Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)