Spatial differences and their changes in the relocalisation of food production in Hungary at the beginning of the 21st century

Abstract

The valorisation of local foodstuff production is characteristic both in the European Union and Hungary. The Common Agricultural Policy treats the shortening of the foodstuff supply chain and the reducing of the distance between producers and consumers as a special goal. A tool which also considers the spatial characteristics of foodstuff production and the development possibilities valid for a given region is inevitable for the vocational policy stakeholders for the most efficient spatial distribution of available development sources. The Index of Food Relocalization defined and adapted at the beginning of the 2014-2020 budget period and adapted and defined for Hungarian conditions served this purpose. The index originally consisted of two main parts: a producer sub-Index and a marketing sub-Index, from which only the production side was elaborated in the Hungarian perspective.

As the end of the budget period is approaching current to investigate the changes. The study evaluates the changes of the domestic producer Index of Food Relocalization related to the past 5 years. The index shows the differences of the spatial distribution and development possibilities of local foodstuff systems. Calculations were made for Budapest, the capitol, and the 19 counties of Hungary. As not all of the previously used indicators of the previous index are relevant and the weight has been shifted, the previous index was calculated with modified indicators. Several new homepages and databases presenting the local producers and sometimes giving them the opportunity to receive orders have been created in the past years. These usually have a smaller regional coverage, there are only one or two with a nation-wide range, thus, they do not give proper information about the difference of county-wise activities. Instead of the number of producers advertising in the online database the number of producer markets was included in the analysis in the wake of the indicator-charge. It is mainly the self-governmental and the civil sectors which play a crucial role in creating producer markets which enables a broader perspective onto the range of regional development of the short supply chain.

The results show that similarly to the previous researches from the year 2014, Hungarian and EU subsidies could become useful in traditionally agriculture-dominated counties the fastest way. While the number of single-businesses has continuously been declining from the beginning of the first decade of the 21^st century, it relapsed to its fifth, the level of the small-scale producer activity – which can be characterised with more factors, than the on-line presence, the trademarks, or the number of producer markets – has increased in 8 counties from 2014 to 2019. A remarkable development has happened over the past five years in the local foodstuff production and selling, but not all possibilities have fully been used. The analysis of the sales side of the index could be the subject of a further study, which could give a complex picture of the present situation of foodstuff relocalisation in Hungary.