Annex 3 Summary of ms assessments

Hungary

The agriculture sector in Hungary is characterised by favourable agriculture conditions across much of Hungary, with 37.7% of arable lands characterised as least favoured areas (LFAs). In general agricultural production in Hungary does not affect the environment significantly due to declining concentration and intensity of cultivation and the decreasing use of environmentally harmful inputs (chemicals). In 2003 15.9% (1.3 million people) of the total population was engaged in agricultural production, a 30% decrease since 2000. In 2005 1.9% of arable land was abandoned. Both large and small holdings are present in Hungary. Industrial production is significant: in 2003 53% of agricultural land holdings were larger than 300 ha. However, the average size of farmland used by individual farms remains small (3.5 hectares). Agriculture is most prevalent in the Northern and Southern Great Plain region (20% each), while Central Hungary only contains 6.7% of total agricultural land. Organic farming covered 133,000 hectares (2.3%) in 2004. Farm structure is predominantly crop farming (with 70% cereal production) and animal husbandry.

Wind and water erosion and loss of soil due to erosion have been recognized as important environmental problems, while water contamination due to nitrate and phosphate seepage from farming is considered of moderate importance. As such, measures supporting afforestation are emphasised more in the RDP to combat wind and water induced soil erosion. Seasonal droughts and floods have also been identified as important issues in rural Hungary: 2/3 of land under cultivation is threatened by floods.

Share of public budget among the three axes

Increasing the competitiveness of the agricultural and forestry sector is the main priority of the Hungarian RDP along with improving the environment and the countryside. The public budget allocated 45.87% of funds to Axis 1 and 31.53% of the budget to Axis 2. Agri-environment measure (214) receives 20.23% of the total budget and well over half (64%) of Axis 2 funding. Agri-environmental measures aim to strengthen sustainable agricultural practices in order to preserve genetic diversity on farms, conserve nature and protect water and soil resources. Specifically, agri-environmental measures address water quality through promoting integrated production practices such as nutrient management, crop rotation and appropriate cultivation to protect surface and groundwater. Measure 214 is applied through both horizontal (across the territory) schemes and zonal schemes (High Natural Value Areas). The target areas focus more on maintenance of biodiversity, as water quality is not the main focus in Hungary. Currently ¼ of agriculture land in Hungary (1.4 million hectares) is already under AEM measures, with the aim to cover 2.1 million hectares by 2013.

Investment support (measure 121 and 125) aims to improve water- and energy saving irrigation management and increase the retention and storing potentials of water reserves. There are several references to the WFD as the support will only be granted if the requirements of the WFD are met. Measure 121 also addresses water quality through modernisation of technological equipment (e.g. nutrient application machines) and investments in storage and use of manure. Additionally, measure 125 supports investments related to wastewater treatment, which will also have a direct positive impact on water quality. 33% of the overall public RDP budget will be devoted to measures 121 and 125.

Measures under Axis 3 and LEADER are not showing any direct link to water.

Monitoring and evaluation activities are based on the indicators set out in the European Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (CMEF) and are complemented with further indicators specific to the NHRDP.

Impact indicators to measure effects of agri-environmental measures focus on amount of land under such a scheme: 25 000 agricultural farms and land users are targeted, 2.8 million ha to receive agri-environmental support, 2.1 million physical area under agri-environmental support, and 25 000 contracts. The result indicators, however, remain relatively vague with respect to water. For the most part, they only indicate whether the AEMs result in a direct/indirect effect on water quality, except for the effect indicator that quantifies the beneficial change in the gross nutrient balance. Further work to quantify result and impact indicators is currently being carried out in Hungary to improve the result indicators.

Annual progress reports are carried out by the Managing Authority contain, among other elements, programme progress based on the results of the output indicators. While the review process does not mention the WFD directly, water indicators aimed at improving water quality will be reviewed constantly.

The link between the RDP and WFD is not clearly developed. Although objectives of the WFD are mentioned as the rationale for intervention for measures 125 and 214, it is not expressly clear how the measures will directly contribute to the objectives. Furthermore, the Article 5 assessment was not taken into account in the SWOT. The RDP contributes to WFD objectives through agri-environmental measures and irrigation management measures under Axis 1.

Measures under Code 214 on agri-environmental measures seek to reduce impacts to water quality. Through promotion of environmentally friendly agriculture, future water quality issues may be prevented, which is especially important in Hungary given the moderate pollution problems currently tracked. None of the measures target a specific water-related “hotspot”, although zonal schemes focus on high natural value areas. AEM measures are split up according to different production types: arable farming, grasslands, permanent crops (fruits and orchards) and wetlands. The AEM sub-measure on wetlands is especially beneficial to water management and achieving WFD objectives. Another strength of the AEMs is that they contain multi-beneficial benefits: zonal schemes targeting biodiversity and nature protection also indirectly improve water quality. Additionally, the different forestry measures under Axis 2 (code 221, 222, 223, 225, 226 and 227) are specifically targeted to reduce water erosion problems and will also have an indirect impact on water quality since agricultural land will be converted to forests.

Compliance with the WFD is specifically mentioned with regard to measures 121/125 related to irrigation management. Both measures make several references to the WFD and support will only be granted if the requirements of the WFD are met. Support for water retention and storing structures will help to reduce flooding problems and alleviate the lack of water during drought times as well.

In summary, the Hungarian RDP addresses both water quantity and quality issues. Water quantity has a greater focus given the importance of wind and water erosion and the high risk of droughts and floods. As regards to the design of the measures no further improvements can be identified at this stage of the evaluation.

However Hungary currently only irrigates a small percentage of land but in order to increase agricultural productivity the construction of new irrigation systems and water retention structures is a focus in Axis 1. While the RDP mentions that irrigation schemes must comply with requirements of the WFD, it is still unclear how these developments will take place in the context of the River Basin Management Plans under the WFD. Any revision of the RDP after the agreement of the river management basin plans under the WFD should take the link between irrigation and the objectives of the WFD into account.