Agriculture in Hungary
First of all let’s take a look at the main characteristics of the Hungarian agriculture, which
makes it makes mit outstanding? outstanding even on the global scale. The total area of the
country is 9.3 million hectares and from it of which, 5.3 million is applicable talán
suitable???/ usable for agricultural production. Actually it means that nearly two thirds of the
total territory can be used by the sector and it is really unique worldwide. Soil fertility is
another prominent characteristic and it is reflected both in yield and in quality of produced
goods. Moreover, the rich water supply is also a key factor in Hungary’s agriculture of the
country. One of the largerst underground fresh water reserves is are here and both the density
and yield of the streams and rivers are proper. The country has excellent agro-ecological
features establishing a diverse production structure mainly in crop production and animal
husbandry, but horticulture, meadow and pasture management, furthermore
forestry/sylviculture are also significant. After the accession to the European Union the
country’s agricultural sector has been strenghtened further and since then there has been more
opportunities for development i.e applying new technologies for more efficient production,
gaining more data to help decision-making or working out different programmes for rural
development.
A global tendency shows that if the development level of a country raises, the proportion of
agriculture in GDP will decrease. Nowadays agriculture has a 3-4% share in Hungary’s GDP
which is not so dominant. But according to economic theories, it is more correct to take not
only agricultural production into account, but goods produced by the food industry (3-4%)
and different economic sectors which provide inputs and services for production,such as for
example fertilizers or logistics (4-5%). In this way / from this pespective For this reason we
can count a total 10-13% agricultural share in GDP, which makes the sector more significant
in the economic policy.
One of the strongest area in Hungary’s agriculture is crop production which is really diverse.
Among the main produced crops, cereals like wheat, maize, barley, rye and oats are in the
leading position and the average yield of them is definitely good in Europe. Besides,
sunflower sunflower után kellene vessző ha az a mondanivaló, hogy napraf.mellett … is
népszerű??? oilseed rape and alfalfa are also popular crops, furthermore there are new
initiatives for the production of soybean. All the crops can only be produced only without
genetical modifications to ensure the totally GMO-free status in the EU, which opens new
opportunities on the market for Hungarian farmers.
Animal husbandry has big traditions in Hungary but all in all there is a much more lower
livestock nowadays than in the past / it used to bebefore. For this reason the proportion of
animal farming has changed a lot inside the core activity. Back in the 1980’s the two main
agricultural sectors – crop production and animal husbandry – had a 51-49% ratio but today it
is approxiamtely 65-35%. This kind of proportion increases the ecological, agronomic and
economical vulnerability of agriculture. In spite of this tendency Hungary has still some
dominant activities in animal husbandry like dairy and poultry farming, furthermore the pig
and cattle breeding for slaughterhouses still have significance.
All in all, we can claim that the
agriculture is a traditional sector of the Hungarian economy so it is very important for our
nation to take advantage of our great agro-ecological strenght and with the help of expertise,
efficient capital goods moreover research and development, our agricultural production can be
profitable and sustainable. The power of the sector is also expressed by the fact that the
population of the country rages up to 10 million but its agriculture is capable of providing
food supply to about 30 million people.
