He underlined that as time goes by there is a serious threat that the sector will suffer irreversible damages. Along with other ministers he called the Commission to immediately adopt a new direct support package financed from the EU budget to help milk and pig farmers.
Mr. Czerván drew attention to a theory, which is gaining strength among farmers that the EU refuses to take effective actions to solve the problem of the milk and pig meat sector. According to the State Secretary this would very much damage the agriculture sector’s faith in community capacity.
The head of the Hungarian delegation underlined that in the current difficult situation Hungarian farmers would need a similar package financed from EU funds like the one adopted last September.
Hungary in cooperation with other Central-European member states drew attention to recent severe damages due to late frost and snow, which caused significant losses mainly to grape and fruit producers. Together with the current market situation late frost causes further problems to the sector. In Hungary almost 6000 farmers notified their damages, which covers more than 38000 hectares. The estimated yield loss exceeds 30%, but in certain areas it can reach 100%. These numbers are expected to increase in the coming days. Hungarian beekeepers were also effected by extreme weather conditions. Frozen acacia blossoms causes huge problems to the apiculture sector. According to preliminary calculations frost has ruined the production of almost 4-7000 tons of acacia honey, which covers 40-50% of the Hungarian acacia honey production.
The simplification of the Common Agriculture Policy was also on the agenda. György Czerván outlined that Hungary is interested in a real simplification process, which not only decreases the administrative burdens of farmers, but also eases the implementation for national authorities.
