Platform for Fish Farming Technology Development in Hungary Platform for Fish Farming
Technology Development in Hungary

Introduction

The Department of Aquaculture of the Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences of SZIU has won support for its project proposal entitled Platform for Fish Farming Technology Development in Hungary (MHTFP) submitted to the Hungarian Technology Platform call announced by the National Office for Research and Technology (NKTH) in 2007. Project partners (professionals and academic staff) have two years (02.06.2008 – 31.05.2010) to implement the objectives of the project. The objectives of the platform include the involvement of all participants of the product chain, initiation of dialogs, assessment of problems, ideas and demands of the sector and to find the answers to the questions and suggestions in the area of research, development, innovation and education. Participants of the sectors may have different interests but united they can have a serious impact on the enforcement of their claims. Ultimately, they can become integral part of the international aquaculture community with a significant lobbyist power.


Background

The Department of Aquaculture of SZIU together with the leaders of the industry initiated jointly the foundation of this Platform whose objectives are in close connection with the Common Fisheries Policy (the National Fisheries Strategic Plan of Hungary for the period of 2007-2013 and the Fisheries Operative Program for the period of 2007-2013(Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development)) and other community programs. The overall objective of the Platform for Fish Farming Technology Development in Hungary is improvement of the competitiveness of businesses working in the national aquaculture sector which has to coincide with improvement of the quality and food safety of Hungarian aquaculture products but simultaneously complying with the norms of environment protection, nature conservation and animal welfare.


Role of the Platform in national economy

The planned Platform included close to 50% of Hungarian aquaculture production at its start but according to our hopes expansion of the Platform will reach 95% of the sector's production. Thus, and taking into account the international importance of the sector (see above) the impact of the Platform in national economy is anticipated to be significant. Moreover, the technology transfer value of the sector will gain recognition which has produced several billions of HUF of export revenue to the country in the previous decades. Thus, in addition to cost reduction and profit increase technical and technological innovations developed by the participants of this sector have a significant export market value which represents a further income of 3-4 billion HUF for the national economy. On the whole, an increase of 6 billion HUF of the current gross production of 13-15 billion HUF can realistically be forecasted which represents a 35% increase on the sector level.


Sectors related to the Platform

The Platform is closely related through aquaculture to Hungarian agriculture (crop production as an important source of fish feeds and animal husbandry as the source of manure), agricultural mechanical engineering (the Platform as well as this sector plan important mechanical developments), food industry (one of the main directions of development are related to this sector) and trade. Additionally, it is directly linked to the energy industry as the sector can act as a user of the by-products of bio-energy production. Marketing of innovations produced in the sector can be an important issue as it involves the activities of innovation management and its related sectors (economy, marketing, etc.).

Készült az NKTH támogatásával.