"Family farming plays a key role in making global processes more positive, and Hungary wishes to actively contribute to this process", Minister Sándor Fazekas stressed in his welcoming speech at the official opening of the Global Forum and Expo on Family Farming on Wednesday in Budapest.
The Minister for Rural Development pointed out that family farming plays a central role in creating global and local food security and in the sustainable management of natural resources. For this reason, in acknowledgement of the outstanding role of this form of farming, the UN General Assembly has declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming.
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Mr. Fazekas stated that Hungary is placing heightened emphasis on improving the position of family-run farms and is especially helping such farms by enabling them to access the knowledge required for environmentally friendly farming so that they can protect soil quality and increase their production potential. There are currently over 460 thousand family farmers and small-scale producers in Hungary, and their numbers are continuously growing, the Minister added.
The three-day Global Forum and Expo on Family Farming is a meeting place for agriculture ministers and politicians from the countries of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), scientists, the representatives of non-governmental organisations, as well as for family farmers from all over the world to discuss the further development of family farming. The host of the event is the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development.
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Sándor Fazekas emphasised that his view on family farming is similar to that of FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva, who was his partner in organising the global event at the Ministry of Rural Development.
The Minister also said that rural Hungary, thanks in no small part to families with small farms, is home to such accumulated knowledge, cultural values and both intellectual and constructed heritage, which must be preserved for future generations. Accordingly, the objective during the development of the National Rural Development Strategy was the establishment of a multi-functional agricultural model.
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In the view of the Hungarian agriculture ministry, in addition to the rational management of natural resources and the preservation of biodiversity, the sustainable development of agriculture means that farmers are able to achieve the highest possible yields using proven, modern technology and while building on existing biological bases. And that they do so without using genetically modified organisms that bear with them many known and as yet undiscovered problems, the Minister said.
This week's Forum aims to examine the opportunities for family farming with regard to four fundamental issues: the role of family farms in the establishment of local and global food security; the three pillars of family farming and sustainability - the harmonisation of social, environmental and economic criteria; the main challenges and opportunities for agricultural development projects in family farming, and the role of women and young farmers in family farming.
Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas told Hungarian news agency MTI that high-level, generally ministerial delegations from over 30 countries had arrived in Hungary to attend the Forum. Around five-hundred representatives from 104 countries are participating in the event.
(MTI)
