The national rural development strategy and the Ignác Darányi Plan

Viski, József – Czene, Zsolt

Keywords: national strategy for rural development, agricultural policy, sustainable farm management

The Hungarian countryside, improvement of rural quality of life, the power to keep and employ the rural population, the rural economy, especially the situation of the agricultural and food economy, quantity and quality of food, the variety of Hungarian landscapes and agriculture are areas of national strategic importance. The Hungarian Government attaches a high priority on these tasks. To create a “living countryside” corresponding to the challenges of the 21st century it is necessary to adopt an overall rural and agricultural policy approach. In the course of rural development special attention must be given to achieving sustainability, to agriculture taking into account to these principles, to environmental and landscape management, and to providing possibilities for rural life. The Ministry of Rural Development wishes to achieve these aims by realising the National Rural Development Strategy and its national strategic programmes.
The National Rural Development Strategy, developed between 2010 and 2011, and adopted by the Government in March 2012, aims at the integrated development of rural areas, including the preservation of landscape and natural values and the sustainable use of resources, development of rural settlements, improvement of the quality of life of people living in the countryside by providing employment, accessible services and education facilities, with an emphasis on the improvement of the quality of the agriculture and food economy, and on significant enhancement of Hungary’s market positions. Beside the measures connected with the European Union rural development funds, the overall implementation programme of the National Rural Development Strategy also includes programmes funded by the national budget (e.g. the Farmstead Development Programme), the modernisation of the legal regime and the renewal of the state administration. This overall programme is called the Ignác Darányi Plan.

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