Hungarian agriculture

Pálinka production in Hungary endangered due to climate change

Pálinka Hungary university

Pálinka is a traditional spirit in Hungary, consumed by many on family occasions, in bars or at parties. After swimming 10 kilometres in the Seine at the Paris Olympics, the 19-year-old Bettina Fábián even disinfected with a fine peach pálinka. However, peach, apple, or raspberry pálinka is in danger. Instead, you may consume more kiwi pálinka in the future.

Hungarian pálinka and wine will taste differently

According to experts, apple and peach pálinka are endangered in Hungary because of the changing climate. Meteorologists say the problem with Hungary’s weather concerning agricultural production is simple: the dominant Western winds weaken, and as a result, extremities from the North and the South are becoming more frequent. The consequence is that fruit yield freezes in May, while the crop struggles with extreme draught in July or August.

Nobody knows whether that fundamental trend can be reversed. But winemakers, for example, are preparing to plant Southern wine types in Hungary, enduring extreme heat. As a result, Hungarian wine flavours may change in the future, just like pálinka.

Hungarian swimmer disinfected with pálinka
Hungarian swimmer disinfected with pálinka after swimming 10 kms in the Seine in Paris. Photo: PrtScr/Facebook/MÚSZ

László Mihályi, president of the National Council of Pálinka (PNT), told Infórádió’s Aréna that pálinka distilleries will have to replace some fruits because of climate change. He said that in the case of peach, the previous trend was that after 3-4 good years, a challenging one followed. The new trend is the opposite: one good year and four bad years.

Kiwi pálinka instead of apple and raspberry

The change’s primary reason was the May frosts. Some producers plant late-blooming trees, but their fruit is different, which makes their pálinka taste different, too.

The best Hungarian pálinkas
Photo: Big Green Egg Hungary/FB

The president of the PNT said plums and cherries will resist the changing climate, but apples will be problematic. A solution could be extended irrigation, but in some places, that can be hard in Hungary. However, raspberry will probably disappear from Hungary because of climate change, just like blackcurrant. However, Hungary’s climate allows farmers to grow kiwi, so distilleries began to produce kiwi pálinka.

Mr Mihályi added that growing fruits is labour intensive, and agriculture has been struggling with the lack of workforce for years.

Pálinka Üveg Glass
Peach pálinka in danger. Source: facebook.com/palinkanemzetitanacs/

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Hungarian agriculture minister István Nagy hands over state decorations

István Nagy agriculture minister 20 august

István Nagy, the minister of agriculture, handed over state decorations and professional awards at a ceremony held at the Hungarian Agricultural Museum on Monday, the eve of Hungary’s August 20 state holiday.

Hungarian agriculture minister hands over state decorations

In his address, the minister said August 20, “the holiday of [King] Saint Stephen is to celebrate Christian faith, traditions, and culture, a three-fold unity that serves as a foundation for the cohesion and survival of the Hungarian nation”.

“For a thousand years … we have been building our homeland, our shared home; the thousand-year-old Christian Hungarian state is therefore the shared achievement of the whole nation,” he said. “We Hungarians will continue on the path determined by the brave decisions and wise vision of Saint Stephen,” Nagy said. “Freedom and free self-determination, faith, culture, and respect for the traditions,” the minister mentioned as the foundations for that path. “This is the path of survival for us, one which Europe should return to before it is too late,” he added.

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Hungarian animal husbandry outstanding between January and July

Hungarian husbandry outstanding

The performance of Hungary’s pork, poultry and milk industry grew at an outstanding pace in European Union comparison in the first half of 2024, and sheep and cattle exports also grew significantly, the state secretary for agriculture and rural development said on Wednesday.

Growth of pork and poultry slaughter was the 3rd highest in the EU, and milk purchases were the 4th highest, Zsolt Feldman said, citing EU data. The number of poultry slaughtered grew by 14 percent and pigs by 8 percent, he added.

Live cattle exports were up by 12 percent in the first five months of the year, and sheep exports were up by 25 percent, he said.

Feldman said farmers were able to better use the opportunities offered by an improving economic environment thanks to government measures to boost funding for the sector and “the largest modernisation programme since the change of regime” in 1989.

The government’s Rural Development Programme has channeled 491 billion forints (EUR 1.2bn) into investments in animal husbandry, besides record funding paired with EU funding flowing into the sector, Feldman said.

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Featured image: depositphotos.com

Bread of the Hungarians celebrations started – PHOTOS

Bread of the Hungarians celebrations started

Hungary needs a strong agricultural sector and all the roles that settlements and villages have played “in the nation’s life” up to the present day, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said at a ceremony held as part of the Bread of Hungarians programme in Somogyvár, in western Hungary, on Thursday.

Agriculture accounts for more than 5 percent of Hungary’s economic output, and the future of the countryside heavily depends on the sector, Gulyás said at the programme held in a run-up to the August 20 celebrations of Hungary’s statehood.

Praising the “unique value” of Hungarian wheat, Gulyás said that peace and security today were under threat, “which is why what we produce ourselves is gaining in importance”.

István Jakab, the deputy speaker of parliament, said that Bread of Hungarians was not simply a programme but “the true Hungarian sentiment” signifying that “Hungarians can count on one each other”. “We can show that we are together, that we can live the joy of belonging together, as we can share our knowledge and information that helps us,” said Jakab, who is head of farmers’ association Magosz, a co-organiser of the event.

Donations from Hajdú-Bihar County:

Bread of Hungarians “a true Hungarian sense of life”

Deputy speaker Istvan Jakab, the head of Magosz, said that the Bread of Hungarians scheme demonstrated “a true Hungarian sense of life”, showing that people could rely on each other, experience being together and share knowledge and information.

“This programme gives faith and strength, and regardless of the hardships we face and how much they try to manipulate us in the Carpathian Basin, we have persevered and sill persevere,” he said.

MEP Balázs Győrffy, the head of the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, said the chamber joined the Bread of Hungarians scheme 10 years ago, and it had since grown to become one of the most important all-Hungarian movements, with the volume of wheat collected growing from 10 tonnes to 1,000 tonnes.

Minister of Agriculture István Nagy said this year’s harvest had been average compared with previous years. Beyond Hungary’s own demands, several million tonnes of produce has been harvested this summer which can be used for export, he added. The average amount of autumn wheat harvested per hectare reached 5.8 tonnes, which was slightly more than last year’s average and that of the past five years. He added that the scheme was an example of cooperation, solidarity and supporting those in need.

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  • European apple and pear industry conference opened in Budapest

European apple and pear industry conference opened in Budapest

European apple and pear industry conference opened in Budapest

The World Apple and Pear Association’s (WAPA) decision to hold the international Prognosfruit conference in Hungary is a testament to the international recognition of Hungarian apple and pear growers, István Nagy, the agriculture minister, said at the conference’s opening event in Budapest on Thursday.

The growing frequency of droughts, the interests of the horticulture sector and crop security have made it important to prioritise farmer irrigation projects, Nagy said, according to a ministry statement. He said the region’s increasingly extreme climate conditions also made it important to devote attention to technologies designed to protect against frost and ice damage.

These developments, the minister said, required minimising yield fluctuations, optimising crop quantities and improving quality standards among apple and pear growers.

Nagy noted that advancing the development of European agriculture was one of the priorities of Hungary’s six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union.

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Orbán cabinet wants to put an end to EU’s ‘hypocritical farm policy’

Orbán cabinet wants to put an end to EU's 'hypocritical farm policy'

At the upcoming EP election on June 9 voters should “put an end to the hypocritical farm policy of the EU”, the minister of agriculture told public broadcaster M1 on Wednesday.

István Nagy said “while European producers are made to adhere to each single regulation”, controls on products imported through the Ukrainian border have been lifted.

“Uncontrolled Ukrainian grain pours into Europe in large quantities,” he said, adding that in April alone 1.4 million tonnes of maize and 750,000 tonnes of wheat had entered the European market. Nagy suggested that this year’s imports could even exceed last year’s record total. Ukraine has abandoned its traditional grain markets and is now shipping its grain to Europe rather than the Arab countries,” the minister said.

“Competition is impossible because for European farmers it means as if they had to stand at the start line with a leg or hand cut off,” Nagy said and called for creating “fully fair market conditions”.

June 9 will “offer a chance to replace all those that view agriculture through dark green spectacles … and return to normalcy”. He said the Hungarian EU presidency would offer a chance “to reverse trends … before the new bureaucracy in Brussels enters office we will have a chance to think freely without being influenced.”

Nagy noted that Hungary would host an informal meeting of his European counterparts in which participants would draft a recommendation for the community’s agricultural policy after 2027.

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Hungarian government to provide EUR 6.4m in support for educational farms

Daily News Hungary Logo Új

The government will provide a combined 15.6 billion forints (EUR 6.4m) in grants to nineteen institutions for the establishment of educational farms in the framework of the Rural Development Programme to support the development of agricultural vocational training, István Nagy, the minister of agriculture, said on Tuesday.

The grants of up to 1 billion forints are made available to agricultural vocational training centers, universities or colleges with a teaching farm, and state-owned research institutes conducting various experiments to support machinery and equipment purchases, infrastructure developments, and renewable energy upgrades, the minister said.

Nagy said the knowledge transfer of educational farms contributes directly to boosting competitiveness, sustainability, resource efficiency, and environmental performance.

As we wrote this morning, Hungarian agriculture is in big trouble, it’s completely depleted, and foreign workers may be needed to save the industry: Foreign workers needed to save Hungarian agriculture?

 

Hungarian government slammed the EU’s agricultural policy again

István Nagy agriculture minister

“Farmers should again be in the focus of the European Union’s agricultural policy,” István Nagy, the minister of agriculture, said on Thursday, adding that the matter would be high on the agenda of the Hungarian EU presidency in the second half of the year.

In the next cycle the contribution of farming to efforts against climate change should be calculated “with regard to the fact that European farmers guarantee the security of food supplies and ensure fundamental public services to all citizens of the community”, the ministry quoted Nagy as saying after talks with Janusz Wojciechowski, European commissioner for agriculture.

“Food sovereignty must be made part of the EU’s strategic sovereignty,” the minister said.

Europe’s farming sector “must be relieved of the extreme and wishful green ideology forced upon it in recent years… There can be no greater offence to European farmers than saying that they are the most responsible for climate change,” Nagy said. “Just the opposite is true, because they suffer from it and it is farmers that do the most to sustain our created world,” he added.

The Hungarian presidency will work to have the European Council make a proposal for the next European Commission aimed at a new Common Agricultural Policy for the post-2007 period that “could restore the upturned balance between environmental and competitiveness aspects,” Nagy said.

He called increased support for family farms, which “make up the backbone of traditional European agriculture”, adding that such farms were put at a disadvantage by their small size.

Nagy also called support for young farmers from a generation “open to novelties, digital and precision equipment which is indispensable for the long-term competitiveness of the agriculture,” the statement said.

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Hungary continues to seek close cooperation with FAO

Daily News Hungary Logo Új

The agriculture ministry said on Tuesday that Hungary continues to seek close cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

The ministry said in a statement citing István Nagy, the minister of agriculture, after he met FAO’s assistant director-general Viorel Gutu, that during its upcoming European Union presidency, Hungary plans to highlight the importance of reducing food waste and poverty that still exists in various parts of the world.

Nagy congratulated Gutu on his recent appointment, adding that it was highly important to Hungary that the FAO operated a regional center in Budapest. He pledged to further strengthen existing cooperation.

Under the arrangements of the Hungarian EU presidency, a high-level international conference will be held with the cooperation of the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in October, focusing on food waste, the statement said.

The minister said Hungary had made considerable contributions to helping Africa, aiding efforts to stop migration, and sending grain to Africa through the World Food Programme.

Commenting on education, Nagy said that young people who obtain a degree thanks to an FAO scholarship should also receive help at home because they possess internationally essential knowledge and experience.

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European farming under ‘green ideological pressure’, says Hungarian minister

agriculture in hungary ukrainian products

European farming is under the unprecedented pressure of “green ideology”, István Nagy, the minister of agriculture, told public television on Tuesday.

He said farming was overpoliticised in Europe and hobbling competitiveness. Moreover, the EU internal market had been opened up to cheap Ukrainian produce, putting the future of European farmers under a dark cloud.

In the wake of farmer demonstrations all over Europe, Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) red tape was trimmed, “but this doesn’t go far enough”, he said.

“When there’s a war [in Ukraine], and 60 percent of European cropland is threatened by drought, the insistence on policies such as mandatory fallowing endangers food security,” Nagy said.

CAP rules have been changed regarding crop rotation and red tape scrapped in the case of farmers with less than ten hectares, “but more should be done”, he added.

The minister said European farmers should not be on the hook for climate change as they had not caused the damage but suffered as a result of it. “They must be allowed to become partners in overcoming problems, and for this they need subsidies,” he said.

Nagy noted that parliament had recently adopted the producer protection package that protects vulnerable producers against buyers and processors.

He also said Hungary’s long-term goal was to diversify farming as much as possible, and 2,900 billion forints (EUR 7.5bn) would be made available until 2027 for expanding the processing and food industries.

But in return, rules that protect the interest of farmers must be observed, he said, noting that they must be paid within 30 days for produce to eliminate practices where “the buyer has long sold the produce and the producer, who had invested in it for months, has still not received payment”.

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Minister: “Brussels has sacrificed European farmers on the altar of environment protection”

Hungarian ministry urges fundamental changes in EU agricultural policy

István Nagy, Hungary’s agriculture minister, has called for fundamental changes in the EU’s agricultural policy which he said was only possible by ousting the current elite.

“Brussels has sacrificed European farmers on the altar of environment protection,” Nagy told Hungarian journalists after a meeting of EU agricultural ministers in Luxembourg, adding that “the current situation of the EU’s agricultural sector is a true reflection of the performance of EU decision-makers over the past five years”.

Rules drafted by Brussels’ bureaucrats and the reality experienced by the farmers “on the lands” come nowhere close, the minister said, urging a new leadership that puts the interests of EU farmers before the interests of countries outside the bloc and makes decisions to protect European farmers.

“This is also at stake at the upcoming EP election on Nov 9,” said Nagy.

Read also:

  • Hungarian minister Nagy: Brussels keeps the agriculture crisis going – Read more HERE
  • Hungarian government built a model farm in Kenya – PHOTOS and more in THIS article

Hungarian minister Nagy: Brussels keeps the agriculture crisis going

istván nagy agriculture minister

The European Parliament has made the situation of European farmers more difficult by voting to extend trade liberalisation measures for Ukraine by another year, István Nagy, the minister of agriculture, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Nagy noted that the EP on Tuesday voted to extend the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian agricultural products until June 5, 2025. The legislative body’s decision maximised the duty-free import volume of poultry, eggs and sugar at the average of import volumes recorded in the last three years, the minister said, adding that this quota would “essentially maintain the greatly increased import volumes of recent years”.

Brussels keep the agriculture crisis going?

He said it was “an even bigger problem” that there were no restrictions on grain and oilseed. If the import trends seen in the first three months of the year continue, the import of Ukrainian corn and grain into the EU will surpass the record volumes seen in 2022 and 2023, the minister said.

Nagy said this would have “unforeseeable” consequences for European farmers, arguing that they could not compete with the “hundreds of thousands of hectares of Ukrainian farmland in the hands of international big capital which must abide by much laxer rules”.

“By doing this, Brussels is keeping the agriculture crisis going and financing the war instead of supporting European farmers,” Nagy said.

Hungary is maintaining its ban on the import of Ukrainian agricultural produce, but Brussels must also act, he added.

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PM Orbán launches campaign in rural Hungary

Orbán rural hungary

Viktor Orbán, the prime minister who also leads the ruling Fidesz party, has embarked on a campaign tour of rural Hungary, meeting farmers in Nemesgörzsöny, in central Hungary, on Monday.

Orbán gave a speech to over 100 farmers in the presence of Balázs Győrffy, the head of the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, István Jakab, the head of farmers’ association Magosz, and the mayors of Nemesgörzsöny and Pápa

Orbán said Hungarian farmers today were much more vital than ever before. “We’re going to take this forward; you can count on us,” Orbán said, adding that he was the “first Hungarian prime minister to come from a village.”

“Who can Hungarian farmers, rural areas, and villages look to for help if not a prime minister who comes from among you,” he said. Orbán said farm prices had imploded due to “flawed decisions in Brussels”, and the remedy was to elect new EU leaders. He asked farmers to support Fidesz candidates, pledging the party would “put things in order, and the farming world will find its way” even amid the current situation which was “far from easy”.

Fidesz held its campaign launch event for the European Parliament elections on Saturday, details HERE.

PM Orbán’s candidate Szentkirályi ready to defeat opposition mayor of Budapest, details HERE.

 

Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture: EU trade deals with Ukraine putting consumers, producers at risk

Harvester Agriculture Kombájn Combine Agrár

The Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture (NAK) has called for a review of European Union regulations on the import of agricultural produce, saying that imported goods should be held to the same standards as those grown in the bloc.

Noting a recent salmonella outbreak linked to infected Ukrainian chicken in the EU and UK markets which caused “dozens of sicknesses and one death”, NAK said the EU “expects its own producers to comply with the most stringent food-safety regulations but allows infected Ukrainian chicken unfettered access” to EU markets.

The case showed that fundamental change was needed in European agricultural policy, the statement said.

The trade deals with Ukraine “are now putting consumers as well as producers at risk”, NAK said, adding that they posed an economic and food-safety risk.

Despite this, the EC recently extended exemptions to duty on Ukrainian produce, the statement added.

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Minister Bóka: 2023 ‘year of failures’ for European Union

minister bóka eu affairs hungary

On Monday, 2023 was “a year of failures” for the European Union, Hungary’s minister for EU affairs said on Facebook.

János Bóka said the EU had “failed to take a constructive role in restoring peace and security in Europe . Brussels supports war and will do everything to get Europe directly involved in the conflict.”

The EU has also failed “to provide substantive assistance to its members in restarting their economies after the crisis and reinforcing the community’s global competitiveness,” Bóka said.

The EU has not managed to stop illegal migration and failed to help member states protect the external borders, Bóka said, adding that “Brussels abandoned European farmers and took sides with Ukrainian oligarchs.”

“Brussels has done nothing to fight corruption and conflicts of interest within the EU institutions, but it uses (restriction of) access to community funding to exert direct political pressure,” the minister said.

But, Bóka said, referring to the upcoming European parliamentary elections, 2024 “could be a year for change.”

The community calls for change “to make Brussels support peace rather than war, to focus on connectivity and competitiveness instead of economic isolation and unreasonable central planning,” Bóka said. He also suggested the EU should “only allow those to enter who have an authorisation and ensure fair conditions for European farmers as well as sovereignty to the EU in terms of food supplies. “Access to EU funds should not be a tool to exert political pressure,” he added.

Bóka said the upcoming Hungarian European Union presidency would work to promote those goals.

As we wrote today, with its affordable workforce, Hungary attracts international companies. Yet, while assembly plants provide jobs for Hungarians, the country may not reap significant benefits from these setups. Details HERE.

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Hungary would like to modernise Kenyan farming

Hungarian foreign minister_Kenya is key to Europe's stability

African stability is key to European security, and Kenyan support is vital in terms of combatting terrorism and hosting refugees, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in Nairobi on Wednesday, adding that Hungary is making large contributions towards these efforts.

Hungary and Kenya this year are celebrating the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties, Szijjártó said at a joint news conference held with Kenyan counterpart Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi.

He said ties were based on mutual respect and were especially valued in the current era of wars and the mounting threat of terrorism, the ministry quoted Szijjártó as saying.

Hungary, he said, provides aid to Kenya, adding that the more stable and developed the country is the better the security situation. Hungary is launching a 6 billion forint (EUR 15.2m) lending scheme under which Hungarian companies are establishing two centres for the purpose of upgrading irrigation systems and fisheries in the country with the aim of improving the security of food supplies.

Also, Hungary is providing 200 million forints for setting up an agricultural education and research hub for modernising Kenyan farming using Hungarian seed technology.

Fairer, more balanced international political system

Meanwhile, the minister welcomed Kenya’s decision to build a nuclear power plant, saying the project would help to cut harmful emissions. The sides have signed a cooperation pact on nuclear education and training, with Hungary helping to train Kenyan specialists and sharing experiences in regulation.

Referring to Hungary’s EU presidency in the second half of the year, Szijjártó expressed recognition of Kenya’s call for a “fairer, more balanced international political system”, saying that Hungary supported this aim since politics was now geared towards “lecturing and criticising each other instead of cooperating”.

Noting that the EU-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement was signed last year, he said Hungary would do its utmost to make sure it came into force during the six months of its EU presidency.

200 Kenyans can come to study in the Hungarian higher education

The minister noted the expansion of the Education Hungary office, and said that as well as the founding universities of Pécs, Debrecen, IBS International Business School and Agriculture and Life Sciences, Miskolc and Sopron universities have also joined the scheme that advises students interested in training opportunities in Hungary.

Before, Hungarian agriculture minister István Nagy was on a visit in Kenya:

Hungarian government built a model farm in Kenya
Photo: FB/István Nagy

Out of the 290,000 people studying in Hungarian higher education, 40,000 are foreign and Kenyans have access to 200 scholarships each year, he noted, adding that they could go on to help develop their country with the knowledge they had gained. Given the popularity of the programme, Hungary is considering expanding the number of participants, he said.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Njuguna N’dungu, Kenya’s finance minister, Szijjártó said the east African region provided a great opportunity for Hungarian companies, adding that he was being accompanied on the trip by executives of 17 companies interested in possible investments and partnerships.

Szijjarto said the business leaders in his delegation to Kenya represented cutting edge technologies in farming, food safety, water management and administrative services, whose projects could contribute to Kenya’s economic development. He said representatives of the two countries were set to sign a mutual investment protection accord, while preparations for an agreement aimed at avoiding double taxation were on the agenda.

The minister highlighted Kenya’s stabilising role in the region, noting that country’s efforts to fight terrorism and its accommodating hundreds of thousands of refugees.

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  • Journey of tribute: Zsolt Vadász and the Trabant Expedition’s African adventure – Read his story in THIS article

Fidesz rejects ‘EU proposals harming farmers’

protest v4 fidesz rejects eu proposals harming farmers

Fidesz MEPs will not support or vote for proposals putting the livelihood of European farmers or safe and quality food production at risk, the ruling party’s MEPs said in a statement on Thursday.

Enikő Győri and Ernő Schaller-Baross said the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) has adopted a proposal that would extend by another year the permission for Ukrainian products to enter the bloc without quality or quantity restrictions.

“The expert commission of the European Parliament has failed farmers yet again,” they said.

The negotiating committee had failed to fulfill its mandate from the EP, which last week called for automatic protective measures to be activated if too much wheat arrived from Ukraine, Győri said. The measure is in force on other products already, she noted.

Fidesz MEP’s warning

Schaller-Baross warned that European farmers had seen their revenues plummet recently. “The EU is choosing surrender rather than competitiveness, exposing European farmers to the impossible expectations of a skewed market.”

The proposal was “forced through” by left-wing parties and the backing of the majority of the European People’s Party, the Fidesz MEPs said.

In July 2022, the EU suspended quotas and tariffs imposed on Ukrainian agricultural imports for a year, and extended that exemption by another year in 2023, the statement said. The measure had resulted in “serious disturbances” of the market as Ukrainian agricultural produce “flooded” neighbouring countries, the MEPs said.

In May 2023, “the EC expressed its solidarity with the five member states along the [Ukrainian] border for four and a half months”, and allowed Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Romania to ban Ukrainian wheat, corn, sunflower seeds and rapeseed oil, they said. That measure was then scrapped by EC President Ursula von der Leyen on September 15, resulting in those countries introducing a unilateral ban to protect farmers, they added.

The EC is now working to extend the exemption by another year, the Fidesz MEPs added.

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Hungarian minister promises cooperation with Chad in N’Djamena

Hungarian minister promises cooperation with Chad in N'Djamena

Hungary is prepared to aid Chad’s farm sector and stability with an agricultural consulting programme, a demo farm and cooperation in higher education, Agriculture Minister István Nagy said after talks with Chad’s Minister of Production and Agricultural Transformation Keda Ballah in N’Djamena on Sunday, his ministry said.

At the talks, Nagy underlined the importance of stability and predictability in Chad, the agriculture ministry said in a statement. That was why, he added, Hungary wanted to help the central African country in several areas.

Nagy highlighted health care, agriculture and higher education cooperation as areas that Hungary can help strengthen. Hungary is prepared to launch a demo farm in the region to demonstrate irrigation development technologies and experiment with seeds, he said.

The minister recommended Hungarian irrigation development technologies that can make farming more efficient.

Busy Sunday in Chad, the Hungarian minister said on Facebook:

The statement emphasised Chad’s role in maintaining stability in the region, as well as the importance of food security. It said Hungary was prepared to launch an agricultural consulting programme in the country with the aim of further improving farming competency.

Nagy also proposed boosting cooperation in higher education in the form of student and knowledge exchange programmes. He noted the FAO scholarship and Stipendium Hungaricum programmes as examples.

As part of the meeting, Nagy handed over crop seeds to his Chadian counterpart, the statement said.

In the ITRAD research institute:

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