Government starts farmland auctions

Budapest (MTI) – The national land manager (NFA) on Tuesday put out advertisements for the first auctions for state-owned plots aimed to be purchased by Hungarian farmers, the agriculture ministry told MTI.

The first auctions will cover 2,700 plots, each under 3 hectares, while 25,200 further plots will be advertised in the near future.

Farm Minister Sandor Fazekas said earlier that some 50,000 plots, 80 percent of which are smaller than 10 hectares, will be sold at a starting price of the local price plus 10 percent. He insisted that the auctions will be reserved for local Hungarian farmers.

Parties of the opposition have sharply criticised the land-sale programme, suggesting that the government would attempt to help its own clientele to state-owned assets.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters