Home → Agriculture and land use
2.6

The way it distributed land lease contracts was probably the most corrupted and unjust measure of the government, securing positions for its the clientele. And now an even more scandalous measure is being prepared: the new tenants will also be able to buy the state-owned landsat discount prices.Discouraged by the government, organic farmingis not spreading. Organic livestock production is almost exclusively limited to national parks.

2.0

Organic farming

Until the mid-2000-s (and especially after the National Agro-environmental Programme was launched in 2002), the number of organic farmers and the area of land cultivated by them increased significantly in Hungary. At the height of this process, over 130 thousand hectares of land were cultivated organically, and there were nearly 1,600 controlled agricultural producers. However, since 2004, there has been a decline and fluctuations both in terms of the size of the controlled land and the number of controlled producers. The decline has been especially spectacular since 2009, mainly due to the transformation of the regulatory system and the structure of subsidies. If we add the fact that Hungary is among the very last in Europe in terms of the share of area of land under organic farming,  the 'results' thus achieved are clearly disappointing: in 2012, there were about 1560 organic producers cultivating 130.6 thousand hectares, being roughly equivalent to the figures from a decade earlier. The decrease observed in Hungary is unparalleled and unprecedented both in Europe and in the narrower Carpathian region.

Under optimal circumstances, organic farming should be focused on high (or higher) added value, local produce and producers directly benefiting producers from sales. In Hungary, however, it is instead about producing organic livestock feed and other agricultural raw materials, complemented by the fact that fallows, grasslands, reeds and other unused land is often reclassified as organic farmland for the sake of increased subsidies, unintentionally embellishing the statistical data.

In terms of so-called organic animal husbandry, 75% of the organic livestock is cattle. Including the buffalo (933 livestock units or 4.2% of the total portfolio) the share of ruminants (17607 units) is 79.2% of the total organic animal stock (22216 livestock units). The vast majority of this stocks lives within the bounds of national parks (for gene preservation and presentation purposes), not involved in food production at all. To make things worse, the size of livestock in ecological animal husbandry is continuously decreasing (except for poultry). Particularly impressive is the decline of organic beekeeping, which used to be one of the success stories of the organic livestock sector in Hungary.

 

3.0

Employment in agriculture

While the number of people in permanent employment by agricultural businesses was slightly lower than the 2010 figure, seasonal employment grew by 36 percent. Both figures indicate adverse changes in terms of declining retention capacities for both the agricultural sector and the countryside as a whole along with the number of people who can only find work on a seasonal basis and thus become increasingly vulnerable. 31 per cent of farmers are aged over 65, whereas the rate of those under 35 is a bare 6.1 percent – being a clear indicator of an aging agricultural population and unfavourable changes in the age structure. In 2013, nearly 3 percent of farmer were college or university graduates, and more than 7 per had received relevant vocational education at the secondary level. Nevertheless, the vast majority (nearly four fifths) are still only relying on their practical experience.

3.0

Agricultural land

Approximately 75 percent of Hungary's territory is suitable for agriculture. The amount of land that is in fact used for agricultural production has decreased since the regime change, and this process has continued in recent years – among other reasons because land can be reclassified as non-agricultural, and thus removed from cultivation, relatively easily and cheaply. Though the government majority approved a so-called "land protection" law in the 2010-2014 parliamentary period, it contains a high number of loopholes, allowing for the reclassification, for example, of the best quality arable land for mining or urban development purposes, which is clearly an unsustainable regulatory practice, as arable land is a scarce environmental resource.

2.0

Ownership in agriculture

The figures indicate a process of unhealthy developments in the land structure under the Orbán administration: continued increase in land concentration, less small and more large farms. These trends further deformed an already distorted and unsustainable land structure. According to former Minister of Agriculture in the Antall administration, Bertalan Andrásfalvy, the  land structure thus created reflects conditions in colonial times.

2.0

Livestock

Eurostat has not published recent data on the livestock index. Since 2010, raising livestock has been one of the preconditions of the land lease contracts, which are otherwise also quite problematic on their own account. 

3.0

Soil protection

There is only limited date available on Soil Protection. The information available primarily sheds light on quantitative indicators on the work performed by authorities, being less informative for the identification and assessment of the changes concerning risk factors. In 2011, the controlled objects did not meet soil protection standards in 219 cases out of a total of 2269 soil protection audits, calling for further intervention. 2012 figures showed some development, with 126 cases of non-compliance out of 1575 inspections made by soil supervisors (7%). The character of infringements has not changed over the past two years. In the majority of cases, a breach of soil protection was recorded, concerning  in particular the statutory obligations as opposed to soil protection requirements defined in the permits. In a smaller range of cases, violations had to do with the requirements of the nitrates directive.

3.0