Environmental Problems and Policies Hungarian Agriculture

A review of environmental consequences of the reform measures introduced in Hungarian agriculture is important when long-term policies on sustainable development are discussed The purposes of this paper are to learn lessons from the transformation of Hungarian agriculture and to derive policy implications on the environmental issues. Changes in market conditions have forced producers to lower the amounts of input use. This has positive and negative impacts on the environment and the sustainability of agricultural production. The transfer of agricultural land ownership to private hands through compensation laws has resulted in some adverse effects on the environment. A long-term strategy called the National Agricultural Policy (NAP) will bring in a more integrated approach to agricultural, rural development and the environmental issues. When the NAP is implemented, program area locations and coordination among different organizations should be reconsidered for the effective use of financial and human resources.