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• Inhibitive factors of the Local Agenda process in Hungary

  151-157

  Imre Baják

  Views:

  88

  The concept of sustainable development is one of the most fashionable concepts in the world nowadays, but Hungary – 15 years after the Rio conference – is still far behind the times: it is the only country in the EU 25 that has not prepared a national sustainable development strategy.
  The situation is not encouraging in the field of local sustainability either. Although there are initiatives that can be described as ones that were prepared in the spirit of local sustainable development, no municipalities have working, formulated sustainability strategies.
  One of the most important messages of sustainability is that the consultative process between the local government and the community can have far reaching consequences, which can influence the municipality’s life for a long time. In my paper, I explore the inhibitive factors bearing this duality in mind, as the lack of top-down initiatives together with the low number and the low support of bottom-up approaches have led to this image which is not too flattering for Hungary. I also aim to show, through the example of other countries, how these inhibitive factors can be reduced.

• Local strategical tasks in the Hungarian fruit production with respect to the global economic and climatic changes

  39-34

  Miklós Soltész

  József Nyéki

  Zoltán Szabó

  Views:

  131

  After identifying the problems, we have determined the local tasks which Hungarian fruit growing has to accomplish to remain competitive despite global market pressures and global climate change.
  Fruit growing in the Great Plain is of determining importance in Hungary as 75% of fruit originates from the Great Plain. Therefore, the maintenance of the competitiveness of fruit growing on the Great Plain is an important economic interest which is a difficult task to resolve, because the global economic pressure against local resources and climate change affect the fruit growers sensitively. 
  In Hungarian fruit production, it is necessary to select/develop with great care the appropriate location, training system and methods of emergency technology which have to be harmonised.

• A review on the trend of livestock breeds in Laos

  227-237

  Somsy Xayalath

  Malam Abulbashar Mujitaba

  Art David Sol Valmoria Ortega

  József Rátky

  Views:

  421

  When the livestock sector is considered an essential role in farmers' livelihood, and local breeds are still the critical component of animal breeding in Laos. Thus, there is a need to review the previous, current situation and prospects for Laos' livestock production. It aimed to study the different traits among the existing dominant local and improved livestock breeds (cattle, pig, and goat) and a more in-depth study on the livestock sector's previous evolving and prospects. Our findings revealed that the general trend of livestock population in Laos increased year-by-year for over 45 years, except for 1995 to 2000. It was decreased by almost 22% due to the new national strategy on economic revolution.  The first foreign breeds were introduced into Laos, i.e., Large White, Landrace, and Duroc in 1980, Red Sindhi bulls in 1998, the frozen semen of Red Brahman 2003, and Bach Thao goats between 2001 to 2003. Unfortunately, many data are still not precise for introducing other foreign breeds like Boer goats, Thai Grey and Red Brahman. There were many missing data on the improvement of livestock breeds in Laos, including the local and improved breeds' reproductive and productive performance, which needs more study and research. We conclude that the semi-complex farm operation should be applied to improve livestock breeding and their productions in Laos.

   

• Development alternatives of rural economy

  187-191

  József Káposzta

  Views:

  112

  Environmental, natural, social and economic processes undergoing both in Europe and in the world predict such a 21^st century that is characterised by increasing resource-crisis from both economic and ecological aspects. Therefore, it is very important for Hungary to see what happens to its natural resources, epecially to its agricultural land, water reserves as well as the biodiversity of the local unique flora and fauna. One of the most significant issues of the rural areas of Hungary is whether we can preserve the natural habitats and the various biodiversity of the related species, the favourable biological background of agriculture. In addition, whether we are able to provide high quality food for the country as well as for the broader reagion, whether we are able to produce energy from the resources available as well as to provide sufficient opportunities for the population to  live and work. These can be considered as the most significant issuesof the coming decades which determine the strategy of the Hungarian rural economies in long term.

• Analyzing the Competitiveness of Balmazujvaros on the Basis of a SWOT-Analysis, Emphasizing Tourism

  262-271

  Andrea Tarné Klutsik

  Views:

  113

  My study examined the competitiveness of Balmazujvaros, in regard to tourism. The town is situated in the Northern Great Plain region, in Hajdu-Bihar county, 22 km from Debrecen, together with Egyek, Hortobagy and Tiszacsege joined the statistical subregion of Balmazujvaros. Comparing with the neighbouring settlements, it has similar geographical features and posesses thermal water that was determined to be medicinal, which is a feature of the region. Balmazujvaros as a typical country town as it has a dominant agricultural character. It gained town status in 1989. Part of the town is situated in the National Park of Hortobagy.
  The first part of my study is to determine the number of rival settlements from the viewpoint of tourism. I will analyze the results of a questionnaire given to tourists in Balmazujvaros between June 15 August 31 2003, and introduce the primary results. The SWOT analysis will show the primary and secondary information and the examination of the results.
  If we take into account the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of this town, we can make the following conclusion: tourism is an opportunity with a well-developed infrastructure, a third sector, subsidies and improved local interest. A sound and well-defined marketing strategy is essential for Balmazujvaros, in order to overwhelm its strong rivals

• Biofuel regulations in the USA and the EU

  25-31

  Orsolya Nagy

  Views:

  134

  Climate change, the increasing dependency on crude oil and other fossile fuels, the expanding import and the increasing energy costs make the world’s societies and its economies vulnerable.

   The development of effective renewable energy resources has been a priority for the US since the first oil embargo. While there was only little progress for around two decades, biofuel use and production has been showing a rapidly increasing tendency since the mid 90’s.

   The EU’s objective of renewable energy resources is one of the main priorities of the Europe 2020 strategy. The European Union aims to increase the share of energy produced from renewable resources in the whole energy supply and by 10% in the transport-related energy supply by 20% until 2020.

   The renewable energy sector is the only one which is able to reduce GHG emission and pollution while utilising local energy resources and stimulating cutting edge industrial sectors; therefore, it is indispensable to develop a proper framework and regulation for supporting renewable energies.

• Preparatory studies for modelling production on protected grasslands

  64-69

  Zsuzsanna Antal

  László Huzsvai

  Views:

  174

  There is a mutual dependence between nature conservation activity and agriculture in Hungary, as the management of the protected areas cannot be achieved without ecological farming methods. Moreover, viable economic activity can be only imagined through the harmonization of agricultural and nature conservation interests. From a nature conservation point of view, grass management systems play the greatest role in domestic agricultural systems. Yet, due to the prohibition of certain management methods and the spatial and temporal restraints on grazing, nature conservation activities have priority on protected grasslands. While nature conservation activity is still of prominent importance, it is not equally suitable for the economical management of protected grasslands per se. With our examinations, we would like to emphasize the common interests of these mutually dependent activities and to promote bilateral cooperation. Our aim is to model the production of grass on the great pastureland of Hajdúbagos. Potential grass production levels are easily calculable with a computer model based on data collected through a series of test harvests, as well as by factoring in changing climatic factors and by simulating the effects of grazing animal species and stocks. This model is not only useful for determining the optimal number of the grazing animal stock and grazing method, and therefore the most suitable management strategy, but it also supports local farmers to be able to plan their activities. In this way, both nature conservation and economic aims can be easily harmonized, which would be an important factor for the sustainable development of rural areas.