Last year, the Ministry of Rural Development distributed a record amount of support, but according to K-Monitor’s analysis, eighty percent of the HUF 1,000 billion was collected by the ten percent of farmers who received the most support. Of course, because the benefits of the tenders were written primarily to larger, more capital-strong, more credit-worthy companies, they were primarily awarded for performance-enhancing investments.
8.6 billion money went to the Nagis Group under OTP, which cannot be called undercapitalized or cut off from credit markets. The Bonafarm Group for the personal benefit of OTP Chairman Sándor Csányi, together with its strategic partners, received an additional HUF 4.8 billion in support. Companies owned by bank owner Lőrinc Mészáros were enriched with HUF 6.7 billion in support. The businesses of the Claessens family in Somogy also ended up on the platform with support of HUF 5.9 billion.
Land-based subsidies account for the bulk of the subsidy amount of over HUF 1,000 billion, of which HUF 257.2 billion was distributed last year. Because of their nature, land-based subsidies are often influenced by the size of land holdings – as well as the type of crop or production method.
Less than one-tenth of subsidized farmers received only 0.11 percent of all subsidies. 89.5 percent of all subsidies allocated went to the fifth most subsidized farmers, while the seventy percent subsidized farmers received only 5.82 percent of the total subsidy amount.
A detailed report of K-Monitor with graphs can be read here.