“Hungarian agriculture, and especially arable crop production, may be regarded as a successful sector of industry in view of the fact that in every past year it has contributed positively to economic growth as well as breaking several historic records in 2016”, Minister of State for Food Chain Supervision and the region’s Member of Parliament Róbert Zsigó declared at the 9th Professional Partnership Conference in Baja.
“Bácska is a traditional centre of agriculture in Hungary and the country’s largest agricultural port, and an excellent location for hosting the event”, Managing Director of the National Public Port of Baja László Nagy said in his opening speech. “The short professional lectures are extremely useful to the participants and provide an opportunity to share proposals aimed at improving their own field of expertise, and during these discussions they have a chance to personally share their experiences”, he added.
At the conference, Minister of State Róbert Zsigó said: “Cereals represent the greatest proportion within agricultural production with a value of 16.6%, followed by oil seeds with a share of 12.4%. These two sectors provide almost 40% of total agricultural production, and accordingly they have a significant effect on agricultural output”.
“Hungary is a major exporter of cereals, and in average ears we generate a large exportable surplus, with plenty to spare for export even in the least productive years. A 4.5-5.5 million tons of wheat produced each year is coupled with 2.7-2.9 million tons of domestic utilisation, meaning the annual quantity available for export is around 1.5-2.5 million tons. The average maize yield is around 7-9 million tons, with 3.5 million tons going to export every year. An average of 2 million tons of other cereals are also cultivated, with 1.4-1.5 million tons used domestically and the remaining 0.3-0.4 million tons of exportable surplus”, the Minister of State explained.
“Despite frosts in January and February and the wave of cold weather in April-May, our prospects for this year’s cereal production may currently be regarded as favourable. According to a 5 April survey by the National Chamber of Agricultural Economics, 42-48% of autumn-sown arable crops were good rating, while 35-40% and 13-17% were given average and poor ratings, respectively, meaning a somewhat higher than average yield is achievable. Accordingly, we expect the domestic cereal sector to be a successful sector again in 2017, easily covering domestic demand and also enabling a significant quantity of goods for export”, Mr. Zsigó said. “The work you perform is extremely important. We must spend every hour of every day making sure that the harvest is of suitable quality. Thank you for your work and I hope that, similarly to previous years, this year’s conference will also be a resounding success”, the Minister of State said in closing.