Government launches third round of farmland auctions

Budapest, May 20 (MTI) – Hungary launched a third round of auctions of state-owned farmland on Friday, Agriculture Minister Sándor Fazekas told MTI.

Another 60,000 hectares of land is being offered to local farmers at the auctions, Fazekas said. He said the government’s aim was to help small and medium-sized family farms to land, raising their share of farmland to 80 percent.

In the first two rounds, some 180,000 hectares of state-owned land was sold to around 11,500 family farmers. The first round started last November and the second in March.

Government office chief János Lááar said on Thursday that plans on the use of the 240 billion forints (EUR 759m) generated by the sale of state farmland so far will be discussed at next Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.