"We have kept our promise: we are helping locally resident farmers with small and medium sized estates acquire farmland leaseholds. The signing of these contracts is further confirmation that the Ignác Darányi Plan concentrates on family run farms" – said Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas at the press conference at which the first farmland lease contracts were ceremoniously presented to three farmers.

The National Land Fund Management Organisation (NFA) began publishing tenders in October, and has so far announced the leasing of 33 thousand hectares of state-owned farmland.

Sándor Fazekas stressed that the NFA will be signing contracts with a further 1500 successful applicants within the following month, for an average of 15-20 hectares each.

The signing of the contracts means the realisation of the Government's Land and Estate policy. Successful lease tendering is the first step towards the Ministry achieving a fundamental and radical change in rural life.

"The results of tendering thus far also prove that we are on this right track" – announced Ministerial Commissioner Csaba Szabó. "There were applicants for every area of land offered up for tender, and were are providing an opportunity for thousands of farmers to increase the size of their farms" – he added.

The aim of the NFA and the tenders it to provide advantages for farmers who perform agricultural activities as a way of life. Family farmers, licensed traditional small-scale producers, sole proprietorships and economic entities may apply to lease farmland.

The place of residence or official business address of applicants may be no more than 20km away from the farmland in question, and applicants may not own and lease more than a total of 1200 hectares from the state or any other source. Another important condition is that applicants must undertake to rear livestock. Successful applicants win the right to lease the farmland in question for a period of 20 years.

"The conditions for application are by o means unachievable, one of the most important terms being an obligation to raise livestock, the realisation of which we shall be monitoring" – said the Ministerial Commissioner.

"With the ceremonious signing of these contracts, the National Land Fund Management Organisation has begun the leasing of 65 thousand hectares of farmland controlled by the National Land Fund, and which were formerly utilized temporarily within the framework of 4943 service agreements" – said Róbert Sebestyén, President of the NFA.

Consideration of the first lease applications has already been completed, and three farmers were ceremoniously presented with their farmland lease agreement at the press conference.

Mrs. Mihály Szabó is a professionally certified sheep farmer. As a result of the tender she successfully won the right to lease 25 hectares of land in Csengőd, which will make it possible for her to increase her stock of sheep and grow the required amount of feed. Until now, she has been farming on a single hectare of land, and won the tender ahead of two other applicants.

Ágnes Horváth is a young farmer with two young children, who will be enlarging her family-rum farm using the 28 hectares of arable land she successfully applied to lease. She has undertaken to being animal husbandry operations to supplement the crop cultivation activities she has performed until now. The new contract means the size of her farm is increasing to 92 hectares. Six applications were received with regard to the land in question.

Béla Kovács won the right to lease 13 hectares of farmland, with which the size of his family-run farm in Szigetvár will increase to 65 hectares. In his application, he undertook to expand the size of his current stock of pigs, cattle and sheep, to create a stock of poultry, and to establish new facilities for the processing of animal products. There were five other applicants for the farmland in question.

The President of the NFA also told those present that the preparation and publication of tenders would continue as long as there is available farmland in the country. The head of the organisation also added: the Government has decided to increase the amount of land controlled by the National Land Fund.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)