A Literature Review On The Development Phases Of Hungarian Pig Industry (1945 - 1989) Part I
One year after its introduction, Hungary already applied the EU pork
qualification system for about
A Literature Review On The Development Phases Of Hungarian Pig Industry (1945 - 1989) Part I
Vinkler Belane 0
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0 Budapest Metropolitan University, Heller Farkas Faculty of Tourism and Economics, Institute of Economics, Hungary Csilla Kalmar-Rimoczi, PhD student College of Szolnok, Department of Tourism and Rural and Social Development, Hungary Beatrix Lenkovics, PhD student Budapest Business University, Department of Hospitality , Hungary
Pig farming enjoys a significant tradition in Hungary and the pig industry plays a key role within the domestic animal husbandry sector. Raising pork has always played an important role in the domestic meat supply, but it has a crucial role in supplying the export markets. It can be concluded that our natural resources provide in themselves significant comparative advantages for us with a high proportion of arable land in agricultural use. Our social and economic endowments and potentials are also favourable for agricultural production and stock-raising. Our paper aims to employ financial data to describe the development of raising pig livestock in Hungary best characterized by its constant changes. Part I summarises two periods describing the changes affecting the animal husbandry sector and their subsequent impact on the economy. On the one hand, it covers the period following World War II, from 1945 to 1965, describing the situation of the country and the farmers; on the other hand, it lists the economic achievements and their impact on the pig industry preceding the political-economic transition in the course of the years lasting from 1966 to 1989.
Pig farming; production; competitiveness; EU; processing
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in international comparison (pleasant climate, top quality soil, knowledgable
labour force) offer excellent conditions for grain cultivation which can
establish the competitiveness of other agricultural sectors, too.
The need to reduce production costs, improve resistance capabilities
and produce eco-friendly products prompted a part of the pig farmers to raise
their animals afield in a natural environment under low-cost and practical
conditions. Until the end of the 18th century, similarly to cattle and sheep,
the main habitat for pigs was the field. Due to their omnivorous nature pig
herds loved to roam the forests where they fed and fattened on mushrooms
and oak and beech nuts (Incze, 2009).
The producton of domestic pig livestock was always characterized by
periodical fluctuations that can be best illustrated by the inspection of the
periods below:
the impact of World War II and the following period (1945-1965)
a quick-paced development of animal husbandry preceding the transition
(1966-1989).
Domestic figures clearly show the ratio of pig industry contributing
to the total meat production of the country: the average of the pre-World War
II years was close to 40%, in 1990 it reached 48%, and in 1994 it accounted
for 43 %. The gross production value of animal husbandry in these years
stood between 38-41 %, at the same time, the share of animal husbandry in
the total of agricultural production fluctuated between 43-46 %. While global
pig livestock figures between 1985 and1993 showed a trend of steady
increase, in Hungary a drastic drop occurred in the pig livestock. Its impacts
very evident; due to these changes our share in global production declined
continuously from 1.04 % to 0.72 %, which resulted in the loss of a
significant part of our export markets. According to 1995 figures, domestic
pig livestock came to almost half, 47.6 % (4,669 thousand head) compared to
the figure of 1983 (9,799 thousand head), however, when compared to the
1960 data, it reached 86 % (Nábrádi, Szűcs, Balogh, 2000).
Although Hungary remained under Soviet domination in the period
following 1956, the leadership of the country strived to create better
conditions for ensuring people’s livelihood and assist the development of
agriculture by allowing them access to household plots and vineyards.
Despite all this, in the period between 1958 and 1965, resulting from the
severe decline in agricultural production the livelihood of 1.2 million people
became precarious and they were forced to move to towns to earn a living
there. (Veress & Dunka, 2003).
It was in this period that the government introduced, besides the
natural measurement of head for the registration of livestock as a resource,
the term of livestock equivalents, which represented one animal of 500 kg
live mass (or several animals amounting to 500 kg together). The result of
this application was that the animal density of particular regions could be
expressed in livestock equivalents and the data could be compared. For the
expression of animals by indicators to allow for international comparisons
the FAO worked out particular multipliers for different animal units (e.g. 0.2
for pigs).
Intensive pig farming in e (...truncated)