THE SITUATION OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN HUNGARY – TRENDS AND TERRITORIAL ASPECTS

Based on its geographical features, Hungary is basically an agricultural country. The proportion of the production area within the total area of the country is approximately 80% and the proportion of arable land is 60%. This makes our country one of the first in the European Union. In the EU, only Denmark and the United Kingdom have a higher proportion of agricultural land. Hungary accounts for only 3% of the total agricultural area of the EU-27 Member States, however, it plays a significant role in the production of certain products. (Harangi-Rákos, 2013) In addition, the climate is favorable for agricultural production, which also strengthens the country’s agricultural character. Throughout history, we have rightly been given the honorable name “pantry” (Marosi, 2009), which was true both within the Monarchy and Europe. In the socialist system the agricultural country became a so-called “industrial-agrarian” country due to the violent industrializations. Beyond industrial development, the service sector plays an important role in the national economy due to its technology-intensive nature. In addition, agricultural production is still significant in Hungary (Lakner et al. 2020). The agricultural sector is significantly involved in the production of the gross domestic product (Fróna-Kőmíves 2019) and in the positive development of the export-import balance. During the 2008 world crisis, it was thanks to this sector, among other factors, that the recession that affected our country did not deepen. The domestic consumption is largely covered by domestically produced commodities (Csatáriné, 2019)

匈牙利依其地理禀赋，本质上为农业国。该国农业生产用地占国土总面积的比例约为80%，耕地占比达60%，该项指标在欧盟（EU）范围内位居前列。在欧盟内部，仅丹麦与英国的农业用地占比高于匈牙利。尽管匈牙利的农业用地总面积仅占欧盟27个成员国（EU-27）农业总用地的3%，但其在部分农产品的生产中却占据举足轻重的地位（Harangi-Rákos, 2013）。此外，该国气候条件适宜农业生产，进一步强化了其农业属性。纵观历史，匈牙利素来享有“欧洲粮仓”的美誉（Marosi, 2009），这一赞誉在奥匈帝国时期及欧洲范围内均属实至名归。在社会主义体制下，受激进工业化进程影响，这一农业国转型为所谓的“工业-农业”复合型国家。除工业发展外，服务业因其技术密集型属性，在国民经济中亦占据重要地位。尽管如此，农业生产在匈牙利仍占据重要地位（Lakner et al. 2020）。农业部门对国内生产总值（gross domestic product, GDP）的贡献显著，同时对进出口贸易平衡的正向发展亦有关键作用。在2008年全球金融危机期间，正是得益于农业部门等多重因素，该国所遭遇的经济衰退并未进一步加剧。匈牙利国内的商品消费很大程度上由本国生产的商品予以保障（Csatáriné, 2019）