Hungary paprika producers battle drought and imports

Hungary's paprika producers are trying to sustain a shrinking industry as drought, heat, cheaper imports and labour shortages make the country's signature spice harder to grow.

Nikoletta Pajsan Nagy and Laszlo Pajsan worked long days on their 2.5-hectare red pepper plot in southern Hungary after a dry summer. Pajsan Nagy said they could not irrigate much of the land because power lines cross it, and she had feared the crop would fail. Instead, she said, the harvest was bigger and better than in previous years.

The wider industry has contracted over decades. Official statistics show the area devoted to paprika peaked at 13,029 hectares in 1979 and had fallen to 1,410 hectares by 2024.

Robert Braj, an adviser at food-seasoning manufacturer BWA Kft, said cheaper imports from China and parts of South America are squeezing producers, while climate change is making production more difficult and costly. He cited longer droughts, more extreme heatwaves and the spread of new pests and diseases.

HungaroMet, Hungary's national weather service, said Hungary and some other EU countries had their driest summer since records began in 1901 and Hungary's second-hottest on record.

Labour shortages are another pressure. Paprika seller Agnes Toth said her family now grows about three hectares, down from six, because there are not enough seasonal workers to harvest peppers by hand.

Hungary's Agriculture and Food Economy Ministry said it wants to strengthen producers' competitiveness, but it has not announced new measures.

Kalocsa and Szeged, two historic paprika-growing centres, have EU protected designation of origin status. Peppers arrived in Hungary from the Americas in the 16th century, and ethnographer Imre Romsics said paprika became an important symbol of Hungarian identity in the 19th century.