The Development of the Food Industry is the most important goal in the upcoming EU financial period and the funding spent on the sector in Hungary may total hundreds of billions of forints by 2020, because it is in the interests of the sector for agricultural products with a higher level of processing to enter both the domestic and export markets, Minister of Rural Development Sándor Fazekas said at a press conference in Budapest on Tuesday.
The press conference was held following a meeting on current sector issues between the Minister and the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture (NAK).
In reply to a question, Mr. Fazekas said that following the recent adoption of the new Land Act, the publication of regulations for implementation would be scheduled to coincide with the coming into force of the legislative amendments.
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Also discussed at the meeting was the fact that the management of the village agronomist network would be transferred to the NAK from the various government offices from the first day of next year, which also entails the restructuring of authority responsibilities.
In reply to a question, President of the NAK Balázs Győrffy said that the majority of the 460 village agronomists would be transferred to the Chamber, and the organisation established as a result would accordingly also provide professional advice. Activities of this nature also receive funding from the European Union.
Mr. Győrffy said that he thought the new organisation could be operated from an annual budget of 8 billion forints, of which 3 billion would be provided by the budget and the remainder would be accumulated from membership fees and EU funding. The unification of the system should lead to a reduction in operative costs of one billion forints compared to the current, fragmented system, he added.
The President of the NAK also stated that the effect of reduction in VAT on live and half pigs from 27 percent to 5 percent to be introduced in January would be examined by a monitoring organisation.
(MTI)
