The Situation of the Sugar Beet Production in Hungary Before the EU Accession

In Hungary, the sugar beet production suffers from many complex factors, which reflect on a crisis situation. Due to the narrowing markets and a decrease in the demands for sugar all together with the uncertainty and over-production of the processing industry, the sugar beet producers are very defenceless. The special technology of the sugar beet production gives an especial importance to this fact. There is not too much place fo changes for the farmers within the structure of the production costs, which has consequences in terms of both quality and volume. In the European Union, the sugar sector is highly regulated. The accession will lead us to a decades-old and solid state of the sugar production. For all member countries, unique and harmonised prices and export regulations exist. With the accession, the EU countries have the opportunity to target the markets of the newly joining countries, such as Hungary, with their surplus in sugar production. Therefore, it is in their interest to give as low quota as possible to the Hungarian sugar beet production. One key point of the regulations of the sugar production is the quota and its introduction in the production. For this reason and for the functioning CMO.s of the sugar beet sector, it is important to create and maintain an accurate and up-to-date database and the relating institutional background. The statistical and information system should cover - besides the data of the domestic production and processing and the international trade- the monitoring of the foreign markets and the whole of the agribusiness. The effectiveness of the production should improve even if a number of the farmers have to give up beet production. It is in significant the government´s responsibility to ensure these farmers´ safety of existence. By the time of the accession, reaching an average yield of 45 to 55 tons per hectare, the Hungarian sugar beet production will be competitive with the EU farmers. The current technical and agronomical level of the whole sector does not satisfy the EU requirements, however a number of producers are falling into line with the EU level. Another task is to improve the effectiveness of the processing plants that could lead to the elimination of the factories with small capacity. In that case, additional attention should be paid on the sugar beet farmers and alternatives should be offered by the winding up concerns

The Situation of the Sunflower Seed Production in Hungary Before the EU Accession

However, the sunflower seed production was not free of problems in the ´90ies in Hungary; it is unquestionable, that this enterprise suffered the least, The transformation has affected the producers dramatically here, to; especially due to the privatisation of the background industry. After the bottom of the years 1992 and 1993, the sunflower seed production was more or less balanced, which lasted as long as the year 1997, when unfavourable weather and pest control problems occurred. Since that time, a continuous problem in profitability was experienced; and due to its effect on the industry, a harmonic balance typical for the middle of the century cannot have rebuilt, yet. The most serious problems are caused by the cumulative agritechnical lags. One main source of it is the shortage of capital; the other is the lack of sufficient knowledge. Therefore, the lack of necessary plant protection and fertilization, , own produced poor seeds instead of quality seeds are used. The lack of the knowledge can be explained by the too small size of the farms, thus e.g. a necessary crop rotation is not applied in many cases. The competitiveness of the enterprise can only recover more conditions of the production will change at he same time. Not only the yields should increase, but the agritechnical conditions should be improved. By the time of the EU accession, an average yield of 2.0 to 2.2 tons per hectare will have been necessary to reach in order to stay competitive and profitable with increasing input prices. Still before the EU accession and afterwards, much greater changes and conflicts are expected in the agriculture than in the industry. As these changes will start from the basis of the production, information should start to be given to the farmers and producers right now. Only this will help them understand and view the new system and the new conditions. One of the major challenges of the accession is to improve and harmonise the conditions of the agricultural production, not only in legal but economic terms, as well. This means that the Hungarian level should reach that of the EU in terms of producer prices, direct payments, and profitability and even in consumer prices and wages till the accession. After the troubles of the past years, the preparations for the EU accession raise the questions and tasks of modern management, complex development, quality production and competitiveness. According to the planned four to five years of lining up and technical modernisation, the double of the current annual payments and investments is needed. Along with the overall improvement of the economic conditions, the uncompetitive small farms, the shortage in income and source, which limits the quality and the volume of the production and the lack of the integration, which sets back the production, processing and trade can not be liveable any more

The Features of the New-type Co-operatives and its Legal Regulation in Hungary

In agriculture, a changing in the structure of ownership also appeared in parallel with the changing of the political system. As a result, this process led to the liquidation and reorganisation of the socialist type co-operatives. However, in many cases the cooperatives managed in the traditional way, could not keep up with the changing of the economic regulators, the reorganisation of the market relations and with the more and more oppressive agricultural gap. At the same time, individual farmers - mainly because of their poor material conditions - could not meet the market requirements either in the quantity or the quality of their products. As a consequence of all these factors, a different kind of co-operation was needed. The Ministry of Agriculture and Regional Development passed a decree on the support of new-type co-operatives, too, in 1999. The statement of costs supported the establishment of companies dealing with product purchasing, processing, marketing and service. In the following years the support of these co-operatives was sometimes terminated, sometimes preferred

The Situation of the Sunflower Seed Production in Hungary Before the EU Accession

However, the sunflower seed production was not free of problems in the ´90ies in Hungary; it is unquestionable, that this enterprise suffered the least, The transformation has affected the producers dramatically here, to; especially due to the privatisation of the background industry. After the bottom of the years 1992 and 1993, the sunflower seed production was more or less balanced, which lasted as long as the year 1997, when unfavourable weather and pest control problems occurred. Since that time, a continuous problem in profitability was experienced; and due to its effect on the industry, a harmonic balance typical for the middle of the century cannot have rebuilt, yet. The most serious problems are caused by the cumulative agritechnical lags. One main source of it is the shortage of capital; the other is the lack of sufficient knowledge. Therefore, the lack of necessary plant protection and fertilization, , own produced poor seeds instead of quality seeds are used. The lack of the knowledge can be explained by the too small size of the farms, thus e.g. a necessary crop rotation is not applied in many cases. The competitiveness of the enterprise can only recover more conditions of the production will change at he same time. Not only the yields should increase, but the agritechnical conditions should be improved. By the time of the EU accession, an average yield of 2.0 to 2.2 tons per hectare will have been necessary to reach in order to stay competitive and profitable with increasing input prices. Still before the EU accession and afterwards, much greater changes and conflicts are expected in the agriculture than in the industry. As these changes will start from the basis of the production, information should start to be given to the farmers and producers right now. Only this will help them understand and view the new system and the new conditions. One of the major challenges of the accession is to improve and harmonise the conditions of the agricultural production, not only in legal but economic terms, as well. This means that the Hungarian level should reach that of the EU in terms of producer prices, direct payments, and profitability and even in consumer prices and wages till the accession. After the troubles of the past years, the preparations for the EU accession raise the questions and tasks of modern management, complex development, quality production and competitiveness. According to the planned four to five years of lining up and technical modernisation, the double of the current annual payments and investments is needed. Along with the overall improvement of the economic conditions, the uncompetitive small farms, the shortage in income and source, which limits the quality and the volume of the production and the lack of the integration, which sets back the production, processing and trade can not be liveable any more

Termelői koordinációs és integrációs modellek az élelmiszer-gazdaságban = Models for coordination and integration by producers` organisations in the agri-food economy

A kutatás célkitűzése, hogy az élelmiszer-gazdaság területén működő termelői szervezetek általi koordináció és integráció, kiemelten a szövetkezetek, TÉSZ-ek és termelői csoportok működését vizsgálja elméletben, valamint az észak-amerikai, európai és magyar gyakorlatban. A termelői integráció vizsgálata lehetővé teszi az élelmiszer-gazdaság működésének és fejlődési tendenciáinak mélyebb megértését és a jövőben várható változások előrejelzését. Elemeztük a horizontális és vertikális integráció, kiemelten a szövetkezés, élelmiszer-gazdasági jelentőségét és főbb összefüggéseit, különös tekintettel a zöldség-gyümölcs, marhahús valamint tejszektorra. Fontos része a kutatásnak, hogy a magyar kezdeményezések hol helyezhetőek el az európai szövetkezeti fejlődésben, és hogy milyen esély mutatkozik a legújabb formák magyarországi elterjedésére. Az elméleti és empirikus vizsgálatok hozzájárulhatnak a hazai agrárközgazdászok körében a szövetkezetekkel kapcsolatos nézetkülönbségek és értelmezési eltérések tisztázásához, valamint a korszerű agrár-közgazdaságtani fogalmak következetes használatának elterjesztéséhez. A termelői koordináció és integráció új tendenciáinak feltárása jó iránytű lehet a gazdaságpolitikai döntéshozók és "gyakorlati szövetkezők" kezében. A gazdálkodókat segítő szaktanácsadók, illetve egyetemi, valamint posztgraduális hallgatók is hasznosíthatják a kutatás során felhalmozott ismereteket. | Main aims of the research is to examine the co-ordination and integration processes by producer's organisations featuring co-operatives, TÉSZ organisations (PO's) and producers' organisations in the field of the agri-food economy in the US, Western-European and Hungarian practice. Examination of the integration process by agricultural producers produce a better picture of the agri-food economy and help to understand deeper relations. We analysed horizontal and vertical integration processes, especially in case of co-operatives and we paid attention to the theory and practice of the above mentioned categories. Important question is to clarify the position of Hungarian agricultural co-operatives in the frame of the European development and to examine new organisational forms and models which are likely to take place in Hungary in the very future. Theoretical studies and empirical research which have been carried out in the frame of the project can make influence on Hungarian agri-business experts, including clearing up some different opinions on the co-ordination-integration subject and spreading unified and consequent use of important technical terms. Revealing new trends in the co-ordination and integration fields help politicians and "practical co-operators" as well. Agribusiness consultants who are dealing with producers, as well as graduate and postgraduate students will be able to use the output of the research