Profitability of Different Strawberry Production Methods in Hungary

Gubacsiné Marton, Fanni – Török, Áron

Keywords: strawberryfield cultivation, tunnel cultivation, tent cultivation, Q12, Q13

Strawberry production has increasing importance not only in Hungary but also in many parts of the world. Strawberry production is also the most important of the berries. Although it is very labor-intensive, due to the favorable profitability indicators young farmers are eager to start growing this fruit. Farmers under the age of 40 will also benefit from Young Farmer Contest, which will provide them significant initial support to develop tunnel or foil tent system.
The study looked at the profitability of strawberry growing technologies with particular reference to more modern, more intensive technologies. It tried to answer the research question of whether more advanced technologies are delivering a level of return that can be profitable for smaller economies. As strawberry cultivation has become increasingly popular in Hungary over the past few decades, it is important to explore the reason for it’s popularity.
The situation of Hungarian and international strawberry production and export- import relation were also examined, describing the world’s most important strawberry producers as well as exporters and importers. In the Hungarian context, it was important to examine the changes in the strawberry production area and the produced quantity, and also the strawberry trade. The Hungarian research was based on a questionnaire consisting of 37 questions. During the research 3 types of cultivation technologies were included, which are also the most common in Hungary. Soil- free cultivation, which currently requires the highest investment costs, is used by only two farms in Hungary and therefore it wasn’t the subject of the study. The profitability of cultivation technologies was investigated by calculating the payback time and the cumulative CF in all three cases. It can be stated that the expectations assumed from the interviews have been confirmed. In the case of field cultivation was the payback period the shortest. Based on the analysis of the payback period and the cumulated CF, it was found that producers with sufficient capital and long-term production, the foil tent investment is the most profitable. Field cultivation doesn’t require a lot of capital, so it can return even in the first year, despite the fact that the yield and sales prices are far below previous system and the operational risk is also the highest here. Based on the collected and evaluated data, foil tent production has become the most widespread technology in recent years, especially in the southern part of Hungary, where the climatic conditions are sufficient to enter the market weeks earlier. In the northern parts of the country, they don’t seek to be early, but to optimize qualitative and quantitative characteristics. The reason for this, is that due to the cooler climate, the ripening of fruits in the growing equipments is not possible to bring a satisfactory return.

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