A healthy diet, local products, youth for the countryside, Hungary’s native livestock species, wineries, the New Hungary Rural Development Program, gene conservation, allergenic ragweed – just a few of the interesting topics that visitors may become more aware of at the Ministry of Rural Development’s stand at the Civil Village of the Sziget Festival. The staff of the ministry will be awaiting all visitors every day on August 10-15 between 11am and 6 pm with amongst others lectures, discussions, fun quizzes and film screenings.

State Secretary for Agricultural Economy György Czerván and State Secretary for Rural Development Zsolt V. Németh will visit the Ministry’s tent at the Sziget Festival on August 11, and will hold a press discussion entitled “Let the Countryside Be Your Future!”.

The festival will include several programs organised by the Ministry of Rural Development, including an exhibition by search and rescue dogs, photographic exhibitions and conservation film screenings, a display of seeds and crops and an exhibition of objects confiscated by customs officials, while the general knowledge of the public will be put to the test with quizzes and fun games on the subject of wild animals and plants, and with a species recognition test. In view of the fact that a great number of foreign visitors will also be present at the Sziget Festival, tests will be printed in several languages. A display of methods and equipment for observing nature is also among the programs, including butterfly nets, a dormouse nest, newt traps and grass nets.

The importance of the preservation of biodiversity and of the conservation of biological gene banks, as well as our indigenous species of livestock will also be topics of interest, and the organisers will be holding enjoyable quizzes on these subjects. They will help popularise local tourism and introduce rural life. Visitors will gain knowledge on the subjects of wheat allergy, Hungarian foodstuffs and allergenic ragweed, and will also have the chance to speak with a clinical specialist psychologist on the psychological causes behind allergies.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)