Ministry of Rural Development.

The aim of the rural development policy is to improve the quality of life of people living in rural areas, to avoid further growth of the disadvantage of rural regions and to provide opportunities for catching up. The intervention focuses on the provision of appropriate living conditions and operational opportunities for the stakeholders of rural society and economy. Those are the aims of the strategies and the proposed implementation activities prescribed in a set of internally coherent development documents (NDP, ARDOP, NRDP).

The National Rural Development Plan for the EAGGF Guarantee Section Measures (hereinafter referred to as the NRDP) aims to provide a uniform framework for the national implementation scheme for rural development measures to be financed by the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (hereinafter referred to as EAGGF). The NRDP sets forth objectives and priorities aimed at the sustainable development of rural regions, and contains the detailed eligibility conditions and rules of implementation of each measure.

The scope of the National Rural Development Plan extends to the accompanying measures financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section, prescribed in Council Regulation (EC) n^o 1257/1999 and its amendment Council Regulation (EC) N^o 1783/2003. Thus, its content is narrowed relative to an integrated approach to rural development. Complex rural development is implemented in an integrated way, in coordination with the measures targeting the development of rural areas in the operational programmes of the National Development Plan, in particular the Agricultural and Rural Development Operational Programme (ARDOP).

 

The legal basis for the drafting of the NRDP is Council Regulation (EC) n^o 1257/1999, amended by Council Regulation (EC) N^o 1783/2003 and Council Regulation (EC) N^o 567/2004, Commission Regulations (EC) N^o 817/2004, N^o 141/2004, N^o 447/2004, N^o 740/2004 and the Accession Treaty.

 

The basis for NRDP is the situation analysis, SWOT and strategy devised for the National Development Plan and the Agricultural and Rural Development Operational Programme. Both the NDP and the ARDOP objectives include the general aims set in the NRDP, for which resources are provided by the NRDP. The situation analysis and strategy of the NRDP are based on the strategic conclusions of the NDP and ARDOP, furthermore it provides additional details about some elements within the scope of the NRDP, e.g. employment, profitability, state of environment, differences in the production qualities of agricultural areas. These documents provide a strategic basis for the implementation of rural development measures to be financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section. The strong coherence of these three documents is also ensured by their shared basis.

The rural population has to face several (social, economic and environmental) problems these days. The rural development measures offer solutions to some of them. The ARDOP measures serve the improvement of employment and income-earning opportunities and living conditions and, to some extent, infrastructure. The measure LEADER+ catalyses the above-mentioned processes by increasing the activity of local communities and their internal resources, involving social aspects as well. The measures of the NRDP provide answers primarily to the environmental challenges (agri-environmental management, support of less favoured areas, meeting standards, afforestation of agricultural land) and play a role in solving the economic and social problems caused by the transition (setting up of producer groups, support of semi-subsistence farms undergoing restructuring, early retirement).

 

The Government of Hungary has adopted the second National Environmental Programme, whose fundamental objectives are the promotion of sustainable development, the improvement of the environmental conditions of Hungary and the protection of natural assets. The integration of environmental protection and nature conservation objectives into development plans and programmes is a necessary condition for economic development that respects environmental considerations as well.

The support of environmentally friendly, sustainable forms of agriculture and the encouragement of environmental protection and landscape preservation are among the most important objectives of the NRDP. Those objectives are to be achieved directly through the measures entitled "Agri-environment and animal welfare", "Less favoured areas", "Meeting standards" and "Afforestation of agricultural land". The NRDP objectives are in close connection and in conformity with the objectives set forth in the Rural Development Action Programme of the NEP 2, therefore they have positive effects on implementation of the Action Programme.

 

In Government Resolution 2253/1999 (X.7.), the Government of Hungary approved the National Agri-Environment Programme (NAEP) as a sub-programme of the National Environmental Programme. This Programme contains various horizontal and zonal target programmes supporting environmentally friendly farming. The NAEP objectives are in line with NRDP objectives, its target programmes are integrated into the agri-environmental management measure of NRDP.

 

Of the measures prescribed in the SAPARD Plan, the activities involved in the measures entitled "Supporting the establishment of producer groups", "Protection of agri-environment" and "Technical Assistance" provided the basis for elaborating the corresponding NRDP measures, although the first two measures shall not be launched within the framework of the SAPARD Programme. The chapters on monitoring, controls and evaluation also rely heavily on the relevant chapters of the SAPARD Programme.

 

Based on the consideration of agricultural land utilisation concepts, the national long-term afforestation concept was completed in 1996. According to the concept, 778 thousand hectares is a realistic estimate of the quantity of agricultural land suitable for afforestation, and the afforestation of that area would raise the forest rate of Hungary to the optimal level of 27%. Sectorial control institutions have targeted 15 thousand hectares of afforestation per year from 2001 until 2010, approximately 80% of which is to be carried out on agricultural land. This is in line with the afforestation plan proposed in the National Forest Programme of Hungary, which is currently under elaboration, and with the NRDP objectives.

 

Government Decree 49/2001. (IV. 3.) on protection against the nitrate contamination of waters from agricultural sources (hereinafter referred to as the Nitrate Decree) contains provisions in line with Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources.

In a manner similar to the directive, the Nitrate Decree, which came into effect in 2001, contains the list of settlements in nitrate sensitive areas, the rules of "Good Farming Practice in manuring" that farmers are obliged to keep and the time-schedule of implementation in the form of an action plan. The Action Programme was launched on 1 January 2002 and extends to 31 December 2013. Along with nitrate sensitivity, its priorities include the requirements applicable to the manure storage systems of animal keeping sites that use semi-liquid manure technology.

The ARDOP measures aimed at investment in animal keeping facilities are complemented by measure 4.3. of the NRDP, which is also linked to measure 4.1. (Agri-environment) of the NRDP, since the organic manure produced in animal keeping sites and stored in the way defined in the Nitrate Decree can only be utilised by farmers who enter the agri-environmental programme.

 

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Attached documents:

Full text of the NRDP (PDF)

Annexes of NRDP (ZIP)