The countryside’s spine should be agriculture. To achieve this a significant transformation can be expected in the near future within the system of Rural Development and agricultural support said Mr. Zsolt V. Németh, Director of Rural Development at his lecture held in Makó. He also talked about the possibilities of the new Széchenyi plan regarding agricultural support.

“In the past years everything concerning the village has been decreased for instance home made dishes, quality and unique values” – continued Zsolt V. Németh. Recognizing this problem the government will change the possibilities of funding and grant applications.

The Director said priorities will be given to the environment and regional farming. Within this area individual, family-owned small and middle-sized farms will have an important role. The Ministry of Rural Development is going to support the establishment of volunteer procurement, storing, manufacturing and purchases of cooperatives including micro, small and middle-sized businesses standing on many feet. To promote this renewal there were steps taken in connection with this: such as the establishment of the National Land Fund concerning public procurement and the modification of the law regarding small producers and the introduction of the agrarian Széchenyi card.

“Unfortunately, we are experiencing that The New Hungary’s rural development program designed for 2007-2013 and its supporting system is not efficient in many areas – added V. Németh Zsolt. “We are over half time of the funding period and out of the 1300 billion Forints the remaining sum is not more than 2000 billion Forints are left for the remaining years. Five percent of the grant applicants took more than 60% of the funds. There is no case similar to this one in Europe.

According to the state-secretary, the institutional structure of rural development has to be renewed as well. The Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development have been completely reshuffled in its leadership and structure. They are reorganizing the grant possibilities of the LEADER Program since the ideas of ‘cohesion of communities, promoting self-management’ have become satirical said the politician. Mr. Zsolt V. Németh promised concrete changes starting in the next couple of weeks concerning the regulation of the publication of grants on a larger scale and reassuring everybody that the system will be clearer and more just.

(Ministry of Rural Development, Press Office)