Hungary has an excellent weather disposition for agricultural production in general and also great soil quality. The aforementioned predispositions would be usually sufficient enough to build a strong agricultural sector. However, the fruit and vegetable sector has been going through some tough times in the past couple of years caused by a number of factors including the Russian embargo, weather conditions, etc. The sector itself is also plagued by numerous issues also faced by the other agricultural sectors such as the ageing population, lack of agricultural education, low irrigation levels, small plots, price sensitivity, etc.
In Hungary the fruit and vegetable production between the years 2005 and 2016 decreased from 15 to 13 percent of the gross agricultural productions value. In 2013, 0.85 million tonnes of fruits and 1.44 million tonnes of vegetables were produced. In 2016 the production output of the sector increased slightly, to around 2.5 million tonnes. The area of the vegetable production is around 80.9 thousand hectares and the fruit growing area is around 92.2 thousand hectares. The share of the fruit and vegetable growing area within the entire agricultural area is 1.5 percent for vegetables and 1.7 percent for fruits. Nevertheless, even though the fruit and vegetable growing area represents only a small share of the entire agricultural area its importance is still outstanding in regard of the gross production value, the agricultural external trade balance and the role played in employment.
In 2015, the Hungarian government introduced voluntary coupled support for vegetables for processing, for field vegetables, and for fruits in extensive orchards. Under these support schemes EUR 34.46 million are made available in total for farmers every year until 2020. In the 2014–2020 Rural Development Programme, 41 tenders had been issued until the middle of November 2016, of which 4 had been published for the modernization of horticulture.
In 2016, the Hungarian government finalized its strategy for the growth of the fruit and vegetable sector, the main aim of which is to increase the output from the current 2.5 million tonnes by around 1 million in the next decade. Deputy Minister Nagy stated that vegetable production is expected to increase by 35 percent, while fruit production is expected to achieve a 70 percent increase in the next decade with the help of the new strategy. The government set aside around 100 billion HUF (around 321 mil. EUR), within Hungary’s rural development budget, for support measures for the sector aimed at achieving production increase.
In the fruit and vegetable sector over 90 percent of the production takes place on the open fields and less than 10 percent of the area is covered with greenhouses and glasshouses. Out of the latter, greenhouses are more popular and more common, covered with polyethylene film because it is less expensive than a glasshouse. Price sensitivity is a major factor for the Hungarian farmers, which also affects the investments into innovation, irrigation and so on.
The average producer of vegetables in Hungary farmed only 1.9 hectares in 2013, while the average fruit producer used 1.1 hectares. There are around 60 specialised farms with over 100 hectares which utilised almost 20 percent of the total fruit production area in 2013 (an average of 216 hectares per farm). The total number of small-scale producers in Hungary is around 200 thousand, of which 70 percent produce fruits and vegetables. One way in which the farmers can decrease their costs is to join a producer organisation, which is also aimed at increasing market share because the vast majority of producers have small or family farms. In 2015, there were 51 recognised fruit and vegetable Producer Organisations (PO’s) in Hungary with a membership of 13,433, having an 83 percent share in the vegetable sector, and an 81 percent share in the fruit sector’s area utilised by the PO’s and Producer Groups.
The ageing agricultural population in Hungary is becoming an increasing threat. Around 30 percent of the farmers in Hungary are aged above 65 years and only around 6 percent are aged under 35 years, which shows the lack of interest from young people in agriculture. The agricultural education background of farmers is also many times lacking, with only around 3.4 percent having higher agricultural education and around 10 percent secondary education.
Another factor affecting the Hungarian horticultural sector is the relatively low levels of knowledge transfer and extension in the fields of production technology. Consultancy is available to farmers and is often also free, being provided mainly by consultants representing input suppliers and distributors, by integrators as well as by agents of quality assurance companies.
The Hungarian horticulture is mainly concentrated on the following commodities: maize, green bell peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, peas, apples, cherries, peaches and plums. The processing industry of fruit and vegetables is limited and mainly focuses on maize, peas, tomatoes, apples and cherries. Hungary’s maize production is of international importance being the second biggest exporter of maize and maize products in the EU after France. Other than maize also commodities such as sweet peppers, tomatoes, apples and sour cherries are of high importance for the sector. Even though apple production in the most extensive orchards (with low yields) was making losses on average in the period of 2011–2015, the production in medium and high yielding orchards proved to be profitable. Contrary to this, the production of sour cherries, tomatoes and green peppers was generally profitable in the period of 2011–2015, but the differences between the yield categories were substantial. The cost of production for vegetables is highly dependent on the type of greenhouse used, e.g. as mentioned above glasshouse which is expensive but compensates with high yields or greenhouse, which is cheaper but with lower yields.
Hungary’s foreign trade surplus of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables exceeded EUR 258.6 million in 2015. The trade balance of sweet peppers was positive; the major buyers included Germany and Austria, while the main competitors on the export markets were Spain and the Netherlands. The trade balance of tomatoes was negative; the major suppliers to Hungary included Spain, Germany, Slovakia, the Netherlands and Italy. In terms of target markets, 82 per cent of the tomato exports went to Austria and Romania in 2015. The foreign trade of apples suffered a EUR 2.9 million deficit in 2015, whereas it showed a surplus in the previous three years. The major suppliers to Hungary included Austria, Germany, Poland, Italy and Serbia, while the main buyers of Hungarian apples were Romania, Slovakia and Austria. Hungary has been the world’s leading exporter of fresh sour cherries. The foreign trade surplus of fresh sour cherries reached EUR 13.9 million in 2015. The major buyers of Hungarian sour cherries included Germany, Poland and Austria, while the main competitors on the export markets were Poland and Serbia. The foreign trade surplus of frozen sour cherries in 2015 was EUR 4.4 million; the main target markets included Germany, Poland and Austria, while the main competitors were, again, Poland, Serbia, as well as Austria and the Netherlands. The foreign trade of canned cherries and sour cherries achieved a EUR 39.1 million surplus in 2015, which was lower than the average for the period 2011–2014. The decline was primarily due to the lower value of exports. The major buyers of these preserves and cans included Germany, Belgium, Slovakia and Austria.
