Management of domestic agricultural enterprises in comaprisom with

Székely, Csaba – Pálinkás, Péter

Keywords: management, economics, finance, cooperation, EU comparisons

Domestic farmers have not yet wholly re-assessed their past working practices: in these days no one can carry on practicing agricultural operations without being aware of the slightest tendencies and movements in markets. Production structure, species, technology, produce quality, cooperation structure all need to be continually monitored and production programs have to be modified according to changing conditions. For this planning is the best instrument, that is the development of appropriate strategies. Decisions about marketing and merchandising outlets are a part of planning and it is increasingly difficult to imagine that in the present competitive environment these can be made by individual farmers. The prevailing practice of farms financing, that is an emphasis on self financing, also indicate a firm adherence to traditions. Changing this practice would require a significant improvement of credit conditions. None of these reforms can be achieved without better training, up-to-date skills and levels of information. Acquired skills may quickly fade and even valuable practical experience cannot compensate for out of date skills.
The political management of agricultural sector in the past decades did less than everything for the maintenance of adequate conditions for farming. The reforms following the change of political regime were subjected to political ideas that lead to losses in valuable capacities (human resources amongst others), resources and opportunities. Subsequent governments did not put forward consistent, unambiguous agricultural policies, therefore entrepreneurs in the farming sector felt a lack of security all the time. Many mistakes and omissions were made during the period of preparation for EU membership, towards the end of which some policies were even suddenly reversed. National agricultural policy makers have quickly adopted a belief that all important economic decisions are made in Brussels, therefore they have no other task than communicating decisions, policing directives and a rapid dismantling national institutions. Educational and research establishments found themselves also on the defensive: many internationally unique agricultural university departments and research institutes re-profiled their activities and their graduates in increasing numbers found jobs in workplaces securely away from agriculture. The transformation of training system according to the so called Bologna process did not bring about the desirable change either: earlier training programs such as for company economists disappeared altogether, leaving just a basic agricultural engineering for land development as the sole available program. Graduates of general farming and farm management without much agricultural science training cannot be expected to be of much help for agricultural enterprises.
The outcome of our investigations reinforces the opinion that a very significant part of the Hungarian farming system needs to be corrected. Apart from initiating an essential (and lacking) national agricultural strategy, it will be necessary to observe more sensitively the peculiarities of agriculture when reforming the institutional system. The establishment of a system of adequately functioning consultancies for advising in technical and scientific matters and facilitating further professional training is still an important task. Training should be organised according to actual requirements, enhancing primarily professional and farm management skills. As in other states country areas poorly served due to business considerations should be aided in acquiring information. There is also a lot to do in the field of financing as well as in changing attitudes concerning the concept of cooperation and its support.

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