A study of Hungary’s vegetable producing small farmers

Horváth, Zoltán

The opportunities for Hungarian vegetable and fruit production are much greater than the current production standards suggest. The country’s favourable endowments and the efficient employment of the rural labour force both justify the development of the labour-intensive sectors of the production structure. One of the most important tasks is the protection of the home market, which can be assured via the reliable cultivation of the necessary commodity supply, rather than through administrative measures, and to which end both yield and produce quality must be improved. The standard of post-harvest processing is currently too low (although it is continuously improving), to produce adequate quality, marketable goods. The development of a suitable infrastructure is the primary requirement for this. The large number of family farms operating in this sector requires the development of and easier access to modern educational, research and expert advisory services, for effective production activity.

The implementation of the necessary developments requires a continuation of the structural reorganisation begun in the 2000’s to increase the sector’s competitiveness and the further integration of producers. The earlier mistrust, which caused the greatest problems, is in abeyance; in fact, in response to the support on offer, unnecessary numbers of producer organisations (TÉSZ) were formed, whose grounds for existence is questionable. There is no need for the creation of further new organisations, rather their size and commodity supply needs to be increased, either through the admission of new members or the expansion of existing members’ production. In the interests of further concentrating supply, the cooperation of existing members is necessary, either formally or informally. Exemplary models for this are the two secondary organisations formed in the Southern Lowlands: the Lowland Regional Association, based in Szentes; and the Southern Lowland Producers’ Marketing Organisations Commercial and Service PLC, based in Mórahalom.

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