Spatial specialisation of livestock in Hungary

Absztrakt

The territorial location issues of livestock in the European Union and also in our country got into the focus over the past few years. There are different animal structures in the regions of our country and different animal species became dominant. The location and the development of certain animal types are affected by a number of socio-economic factors (the history of breeding, ownership, labour and capital assets, etc.). In case of the spatially differentiated species-structure, variable profitability, human-resource, technical standards, different risk factors and market opportunities must be taken into consideration in different regions. The actuality of the research topic is enhanced by the fact that nowadays the spatial structure of animal production has become an important key issue. That is why more and more research is needed in Hungary, primarily research studying and analysing the structural changes and principals of animal production in order to ensure that each region would have a rational and efficient breed-structure. In addition, it is expected in modern market economies that the various regions should specialize in animal species, for which they have the most favourable breeding conditions. In order to follow the livestock changes (spatial and structural) in the last decade, it was important to consider the spatial specialization of different species over time.