Hungarian agriculture needs tens of thousands of seasonal workers

Hungarian agriculture needs at least 30-40 thousand seasonal workers in April and May, said one of the leading Hungarian agricultural economists on ATV. György Raskó added that the sector is going to struggle with problems this year, but they do not expect a high-volume depression. 

Hungarian agriculture has great prospects this year, atv reported. He stated that the rhythm of agricultural labour is adequate: what needed to be planted is already in the soil, and there will not be any problems with future works, either. The state of the barley and the wheat is very good, so it is not excluded that

in 2020, there will be a record grain harvest.

The problem is that goods delivery is faltering, and Hungarian farmers cannot export their products abroad. Hungary sells several hundred thousand tonnes to foreign countries, but that amount has now decreased to almost zero. Furthermore, there are no seasonal workers because of the coronavirus.

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Therefore, he said that a movement should be created during which people who would like to eat asparagus, for example, could volunteer to harvest it.

He added that it would do good for the sector if

such a movement was centrally organised.

He stated that there are not enough seasonal workers because of the virus in many European countries, but such movements were created, for example, in the United Kingdom, and it functions well.

He said that there are many administrative tasks in connection to seasonal work, but that should be simplified now. Moreover, the state should reduce the relevant taxes to zero. Since many will lose their jobs in the following weeks and months, he said that there would be volunteers.

Source: atv.hu