Ukrainian Grain Should Reach Famine-Struck Areas First

Hungary will protect the interests of Hungarian farmers by any means and at any cost, even if the European Union does not extend the EU ban on Ukrainian grain imports after September 15, Hungarian Agriculture Minister, István Nagy, said in Brussels on Tuesday.

István Nagy told Hungarian journalists after a meeting of agriculture ministers from the Member States that there is no professional justification for lifting the EU ban on grain imports. He stressed that the measure must be maintained, because it is not acceptable that Hungarian storage facilities are refilled with Ukrainian stocks.

The measure must be extended until after the harvest to make room for our own harvest. If no Ukrainian grain enters the country, there will be room for Hungarian crops,”

he explained.

The minister noted that the Black Sea ports are closed and the extension of the grain agreement has failed, meaning that the Russian side will not agree to the delivery of cereals by sea. If the 40 million tons of Ukrainian grain reaches the EU’s internal market, traditional European agriculture will collapse, he warned.

We therefore propose that the EU extend the moratorium until at least the end of the year, until December 31,”

the Minister said, adding that Hungary had also proposed that the EU should subsidize Ukrainian grain shipments through transit fees, so that Ukrainian grain could reach traditional markets from Europe.

Do not make the internal markets of the European Union more difficult, get it to where the lack of it is causing trouble, instead. Famine could trigger a wave of migration that would again put a strain on the European Union’s economy and create other very big problems,”

he added.

Regarding the use of pesticides and their reduction, the agriculture minister said that Hungary agrees to reduce them for health and food quality reasons. However, he disagrees with the proposal that each Member State should cut their use by 50 percent, because, he said, the rate of utilization and therefore the reduction varies from country to country.

“It is not acceptable that a country that uses three times more pesticides than Hungary reduces the use of these products by only 50 percent. Hungary halved the use of pesticides when it joined the EU. It is impossible to further halve that,” added the politician.

On the African swine fever appearing in Croatia, the Agriculture Minister said it is vital for Hungary to work on official measures to reduce the chances of the spread of the infection.

After the meeting of agriculture ministers of the EU Member States, the Croatian agriculture minister informed Nagy that the African swine fever virus had appeared in domestic pig herds in her country.

The minister pointed out that this was a serious economic threat to Hungary, as the virus has appeared close to the border. With tens of thousands of people returning from Croatia during the peak tourist season, and the risk of African swine fever virus being introduced, Hungary is working on immediate measures, he said.

Working to create a zone where there are no wild boars and no carriers, to minimize the chances of domestic pigs somehow catching the virus, is one example.

This would have unforeseeable economic consequences, so one of the most important animal health tasks in the coming days, weeks and months will be to protect our domestic pig population from this terrible virus,” Nagy stressed.

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