Hungarian government urges overland transport of grain from Ukraine

A catastrophic food shortage in many poor countries of the world can only be avoided if “a corridor is opened from Ukraine to transport cereals overland”, said István Nagy, the Minister of Agriculture, in an interview. in the daily Magyar Nemzet published on Tuesday.

Such a decision requires high-level international cooperation, the minister said, adding that “the infrastructure to receive and transport 20 million tons of grain must be built first.” He warned that any delay in implementation could lead to rising social tensions and “even the spread of war to other countries”.

Regarding the Hungarian economy, Nagy said that 4.265 billion forints (1.1 billion euros) will be spent to modernize the agricultural and food sector over the next four years. “That’s more than three times more than in the last seven years, and that means we can close the gap with our competitors,” he insisted.

Hungary is in a good position because “we can produce twice as much food as we need”, he said.

“Even so, we cannot relax because changes in the global market will impact the Hungarian economy,”

he added, noting that the blockage of grain deliveries from Ukraine has caused panic and rising prices.

Regarding the ownership of agricultural land in Hungary, the minister said

“the sovereignty of a nation is indicated by who owns its land”,

adding that the government was working to ensure that “as much land as possible belongs to the producers who work it”.

On another subject, Nagy said that the Slovak authorities had launched a procedure concerning serious pollution on the Sajó river, and “after a long delay” the decontamination of the river had started.