Competitive agrobusiness – livable countryside (Four theories for determining the outline of a potential development policy)

Lakner, Zoltán – Hajdu, Istvánné – Kajári, Karolina – Kasza, Gyula – Márkusz, Péter – Vizvári, Béla

Keywords: optimum resource utilisation, increased value-added content, regulation of commercial superiority, food security system

By the end of the 20th century, global systems of production and commerce had developed in the agrobusiness. The fundamental characteristic of these is that parallel to the disintegration of earlier market protection systems generally in use, the price and quality of products increasingly becomes determinant. While the EU is presently still capable of maintaining “internal” market protection for a short time, this is unlikely to be the case for long. In the period 2007-13, the type of agrobusiness whose development is indicated, is one which contains within itself the potential for long-term sustainable development, even within the increasingly liberalised and globalised world economy’s system of conditions. (1) To further this requires the development of a configuration and spatial division of labour that comprehensively utilises the precise tools of agriculture and takes into account Hungarian agro-ecological assets. The resources available for the development of logistical systems should also be utilised taking these into account. (2) Small and medium-sized food industry businesses could have an outstanding significance in making the most of an area’s inherent possibilities and in retaining countryside population. It is advisable in their development, to give the associations that build on the consistent utilisation of system elements and which comprise an increasingly large part of the production field, a much greater role than they currently have. The number of cases where subsidies simply create the opportunity for raw material production must be reduced. (3) The expansion of large-scale small business systems is concurrently putting increased pressure on suppliers. In economic terms, late payments and the stipulation of other, quite baseless, payment obligations constitute a transfer of resources, which is not, however, reflected in the current information systems or in tax legislation. In the interests of reducing the imbalance, characteristic of the whole verticum, the regular recording of such cases and the development of a complex taxation system based on this is a task of fundamental importance. (4) The competitiveness of the Hungarian agricultural sector is basically domestically determined. In the interests of this, the Hungarian consumer’s trust in domestic produce needs to be restored. This requires a radical transformation of the current food security system.

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