“The Ministry of Agriculture regards supporting cooperation, forging relations and knowledge transfer between farmers in Hungary and Hungarian farmers abroad as something of key importance”, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas declared in his speech at the 6th Carpathian Basin Solidarity Forum.
At the event, which was attended by some 200 invited guests, the Minister signed an agreement with 20 Hungarian cross-border non-governmental organisations on the launching of the Carpathian Basin Village Farming Advisor Programme.
“The Ministry of Agriculture will be launching the Carpathian Basin Village Farming Advisor Programme next year with a budget of some 420 million forints (EUR 1.34 million), and the initiative can truly be called a milestone in the life of cross-border Hungarian agrarian society, and in the development and assistance of the activities of cross-border Hungarian farmers’ associations”, the Minister stressed. The activities of the 207 village farming advisors employed within the framework of the programme will fill a much-needed gap and provide cross-border Hungarian farmers with assistance in several areas. The advisors will help inform farmers about important trade meetings, the latest technological development involving agriculture, and about Hungarian and EU funding opportunities. Through their efforts, village farming advisors will help farmers prosper in the land of their birth and facilitate the growth of enterprises, as well as making job opportunities in agriculture more attractive to young cross-border Hungarians.
The Programme is linked from both a professional and financial perspective to the recently launched cross-border regional and economic development programmes, which have a budget of tens of billions of forints and in the most part involve tender opportunities relating to agriculture, and which are funded by the mother country, while the activities of village farming advisors will assist Hungarian agricultural enterprises by helping farmers apply the funding available in the given country in the most efficient manner.
In his speech, the Agriculture minister also pointed out that one of the goals of the Ministry of Agriculture is also to preserve the intellectual and spiritual unity of the Hungarian nation, which was split into several parts during the turmoil of the previous century. As he explained, in the interests of the future we must exploit the fully potential inherent in the Carpathian Basin’s agricultural economy to enable the establishment of a uniform farming area in which a leading role is played by Hungarian communities that have recognised the opportunities provided by cooperation.
This was the third time that the Ministry of Agriculture organised the Carpathian Basin Solidarity Forum, which has grown to become one of the region’s most prestigious farming conferences. Through hosting the event, the Ministry is now able to provide an opportunity to all cross-border Hungarian farmers, several orders of magnitude more than the some 50,000 farmers who are members of the over 50 cross-border Hungarian farming organisations with whom the Ministry has official links, to develop new business relations and friendships in the spirit of farming as part of one nation, regardless of where they come from within the Carpathian Basin.