Title of the project: Survey of Risk Factors and Analysis of Risk Management Techniques in the Hungarian Animal Production with a Special Regard to Dairy and Sheep Production

Place of feasibility : University of Debrecen Centre of Agricultural Sciences Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

Supervisor: Dr. András Nábrádi (nabradi@helios.date.hu)

Information: Hajnalka Madai (hmadai@vg.date.hu)

Risk and uncertainty has an important role in agriculture all over the world, especially in Eastern part of Europe. Mainly in countries with changing and developing market economy farmers are now exposed to the difficulties of the market and political environment.

As well as managing risk associated with physical factors such as unfavourable weather, pests and diseases, farmers are now required to deal with greater market uncertainty. As a result they have been forced to re-evaluate sources of risk which they face and to take measures to protect their businesses against these risks. This is likely to have resulted in changes to traditional patterns of risk management as farmers have adjusted to the new risk environment. Animal production is especially exposed to general and special uncertainty in Hungary, so producers have to apply different risk management strategies depending on the scale and purpose of their animal production. Self-producing and maintaining of feed reserves instead of buying them, applying low cost production system and keeping dept low and applying for the available government subsidies are the main risk management strategies in dairy and sheep farming.

This project will used technical information from the literature and will collect data within an overall survey of the Hungarian dairy and sheep production. Within the applied methodology interviews and questioners will be used and analysed by. Producers involved in the survey will be asked to evaluate risk factors and risk sources according to the importance for them. Another task will be for them to suggest solutions and techniques to avoid or reduce risk in their production under the given conditions.

1. Overweening and analysing of risk factors and risk managing techniques emerging in the Hungarian dairy and sheep farms on the basis of available technical literature, official data basis and the data coming from the evaluation of the questionnaire survey.
2. On the score of results to make an overall evaluation about the risk factors of farms and risk managing techniques applied by the Hungarian dairy and sheep farmers.
3. According to farm sizes and production aims to make analysing studies about the risk sources, factors and if there are, the applied risk managing techniques of the surveyed target groups - by using gathered information and data.
4. To transfer the results and the studies to forums, bodies, producers of the Hungarian sheep and dairy sector, also to the representatives of agricultural and legal administration of Hungarian animal production.