Hungary is acting to stop the spread of genetically modified (GM) soy and to reduce the soy market's dependency on imports, the Ministry of Rural Development's Deputy State Secretary for Agricultural Economy announced on Tuesday in Budapest at a professional forum organised to discuss the possibility of GMO-free soy production.

At the first national soy forum of its kind, Mr. Feldman indicated that Hungary is taking part in international cooperation in accordance with the abovementioned principles.

This is in view of the fact that the countries of the Danube region have decided, as set down in the Danube Soy Declaration, which Hungary was one of the first to join, to reduce the use of genetically modified soy within the region and are committed to foods that are prepared using soy and soy protein that are not genetically modified. Consumers throughout Europe actively search for and prefer to purchase such products, Mr. Feldman said.

The Deputy State Secretary stressed that in addition to expanding the cultivation GMO-free soy, another important goal is to increase the ratio of domestically grown protein crops used in Hungary.

Head of the Ministry's Agriculture Department Ferenc Szépe said that today, 81 percent of the soy flour available on the international market is genetically modified, and this ratio is continuously growing. Parallel to this there is increasing market demand for genetically unmodified soy, with demand for GMO-free soy within the European Union making up 15-30 percent of total consumption, which is 30 million tons-a-year.

The area of farmland used for soy cultivation in Hungary is currently 35-40 thousand hectares, but in the 1980s this total was some 70 thousand hectares. According to Mr. Szépe, it would be possible to double and possible triple the current soy crop area. Current yields are erratic and move between 1.5-2.5 tons per hectare.

The goal is to reduce the level of imports, which currently stands at some 600 thousand tons-a-year, he said, adding that it pays to cultivate GMO-free soy because the price of a ton of crops of this kind on the market is on average 60 dollars higher than that of their genetically modified counterparts.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)