Agricultural development opportunities based on a study of counties

Káposzta, József – Nagy, Henrietta

Making use of the country’s advantageous natural endowments, the goal of regional development policy is the creation of a rural economy that is competitive on both national and international markets, which is able to supply the processing industry with good quality raw materials, guarantee a predictable income for the farmers and which increasingly takes into account the requirements of environmental protection and healthy nutrition.

Based on our investigations, it can be stated that alongside the competitive sphere, which is able to adapt to efficiency requirements, there exists in the rural economy a production area of restricted competitiveness. This area includes partly those small-scale production units, which in the context of property reform should in reality be considered “forced enterprises”, or which serve as income supplementation and partly those farms, which have to operate under unfavourable natural or geographical conditions. In regard to these farms with restricted competitiveness, the road to restructuring and the opportunity paradigms also differ from those for the competitive rural economy. The goal is for particular forms of support to contribute to the reduction of social problems and the excessive income gaps, as well as for the government, in response to the measures, to contribute to environmentally friendly farming, to social employment and to the stimulation of alternative forms of livelihood.

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