The State Audit Office of Hungary (SAO) has completed its performance audit on the effectiveness of measures related to digital agriculture and the uptake of digital solutions for the years 2019-2023. Based on the audit, the SAO found that the use of digital tools and technologies has been effective in optimising processes and reducing costs. However, farmers have only partially used data from precision farming tools to make agricultural decisions, and it is necessary to further encourage farm-level data use and data-based decision-making.
Digitalisation is a key factor in maintaining and improving competitiveness in all sectors of the national economy. Digital switchover ideas have been emerging in agriculture for decades. The SAO’s audit found that, although full data were not available to assess the status of the agricultural digitalisation measures and related tasks, many of the tasks set out in the Digital Agricultural Strategy have been implemented or progress has been made in relation to tasks.
Farmers were supported in agricultural digitalisation by the programme ‘Support for Precision Development for the Digital Transition of Agriculture’ (VP2-4.1.8-21), which included the purchase of agricultural equipment, other power and work equipment, laptops and tablets, services and software. The digitalisation support projects funded have helped to increase the use of agricultural IT tools and improve production efficiency. However, the functions provided by new agricultural machinery and tools have not been fully exploited by farmers. Data from precision farming tools have been only partially used by farmers to make agricultural decisions.
The information systems, databases and data collections operated by the audited organisations supported the strategic management of the agricultural sector and other relevant actors in the sector. However, the information stored in the different databases and systems was not linked and the sector was only partially supported by harmonised information in carrying out evaluations.
Programmes supporting agricultural digitalisation adaptation were integrated into the secondary agricultural vocational training. Despite the improvements made in agricultural vocational training, there was still a shortage of teachers of technical subjects. Furthermore, drop-outs were also common, which constituted the risk of a lack of supply of skilled labour force in the agricultural sector, which already faces a significant labour shortage. To compensate for this shortage in the labour market, the SAO identified as a good practice the cooperation agreement between the farmer and the vocational school to provide graduates with up-to-date knowledge and practical experience. It also identified the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture’s autumn nationwide career guidance programme to promote agricultural vocational training as another good practice.
The subject of precision farming has been integrated into the training system of the Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and the acquisition of this knowledge has become a basic requirement. In the new curricula developed in 2023, digitalisation, the strengthening of technical and IT skills, and business management and organisation were already central elements.
The SAO audit also found that the competitiveness indicators of the agricultural sector did not improve significantly during the audited period. The measures implemented to achieve the medium-term strategic objectives and the effective investments made with budget support for the uptake of digitalisation solutions have contributed to the development of the digitalisation of agriculture, but their impact on the competitiveness of agriculture could not be detected, partly due to the lack of monitoring data and partly due to changes in external circumstances.
The SAO made recommendations to link databases, to develop impact indicators to show the actual results of the digitalisation of agriculture, to evaluate their evolution and to strengthen the focus of information and awareness-raising activities for farmers on the digitalisation of agriculture.
The full report is available here (in Hungarian).