Future challenges of the Hungarian agricultural advisory services in the light of producer expertise

Székely, Erika

Keywords: vocational training, advisory services, knowledge transfer, forms of advisory services

By European comparison the professional expertise of Hungarian agricultural producers can be considered poor, although not among the worst in the Community. Among Hungarian farmers practical experience is above the European Union average, while the prevalence of secondary and higher level vocational qualification is around average in the EU-27. The most important challenge for the Hungarian agricultural advisory system is to extend the coverage of the service. According to observations, Hungarian users are only in contact with one section of the agricultural advisory services, while information about other services is insufficient. The users most often know about and keep contact with the village agronomists and support oriented advisory services. Users work with village agronomists to discharge their clerical duties, while suppliers practically cover advisory services concerning production technology. This creates competition for the system of registered advisors and forces them to reassess their goals and duties. The primary task of the participants of the extension system is to boost market demand for their services by increasing the demand on the part of users.

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