The current mood of world politics could not be further from the easy optimism that followed the collapse of the communist bloc. The encounters that once felt like a shared opening — cultural crosswinds, new markets, the mobility of people and ideas — have been overtaken by a return to interestdriven diplomacy and defensive trade.
Author: András Domonyai
The romance of a globalized era, with its images of Marrakech, Cairo, Addis, Nairobi and Johannesburg linked by music, mobility and entrepreneurial nomads, has been frayed by pandemics, protectionism and a renewed emphasis on national advantage. In this colder atmosphere, the question of how Hungary positions itself toward Africa is no longer a matter of nostalgia or charity; it is a strategic and intellectual challenge that asks us to rethink assumptions about partnership, knowledge and mutual benefit.
Hungary’s record on the continent reads as a long series of experiments: occasional successes, many small projects, and a conspicuous absence of a coherent, sustained presence. This is not simply the fault of Brussels or of shifting EU priorities; it is also the consequence of a national reflex that has too often treated Africa as a backdrop for shortterm visibility rather than a theatre for longterm, reciprocal engagement. Yet the continent is not a single story of need. It is a mosaic of rapidly changing economies, of regions where horticulture and protected agriculture are scaling at astonishing speed, and of research institutions and private actors that combine entrepreneurial daring with practical problemsolving. To ignore this complexity is to miss an opportunity that could be particularly well suited to Hungary’s strengths.
Agriculture, framed as a domain of knowledge exchange rather than paternalistic aid, offers a plausible and practical entry point. Hungary’s historical achievements in crop science, mechanization and agricultural research are not mere relics; they are capacities that can be retooled for contemporary partnerships. The task is not to transplant a Hungarian model wholesale, but to engage in cocreation: to bring research, machinery and knowhow into conversation with local ecologies, local practices and local priorities. When Moroccan growers turn desert margins into yearround production under plastic covers, or when Kenyan research institutes combine field experiments with mobile finance and market access, the lesson is not that one model fits all, but that knowledge, when adapted and shared, can catalyse rapid transformation.
This kind of engagement requires a different posture. It demands patience, humility and a willingness to share risk. Shortterm projects that prioritize visibility over impact will not build the trust or capacity necessary for durable cooperation. Instead, what is needed are long horizons for research partnerships, joint governance of project agendas, and investments in local capacity that leave institutions stronger than they were before. Hungarian actors — universities, research stations, private firms — must be prepared to learn as much as to teach, to accept that local knowledge will reshape project design, and to measure success in terms of resilience and mutual learning rather than immediate export figures.
There is also a reciprocal logic to this work that should not be underestimated. Africa’s agricultural challenges and innovations are not isolated curiosities; they are laboratories for ideas that will matter in Europe as climate stress intensifies. Droughtresilient cropping systems, integrated water management, and approaches to soil regeneration developed in African contexts can inform practices in the Carpathian Basin and beyond. In other words, partnership with Africa can sharpen Hungarian expertise and provide new tools for domestic adaptation. This twoway flow of knowledge reframes cooperation as an investment in shared resilience rather than a oneway transfer.
To pursue such a path, old habits must be abandoned. The language of aid and the posture of benevolence have outlived their usefulness. So too have episodic, donordriven interventions that leave little institutional legacy. What must replace them is a philosophy of collaboration that centers local agency, aligns incentives across partners, and commits to the slow work of capacity building. This will require new financing models, patient institutional commitments and a readiness to accept ambiguous, incremental outcomes as signs of progress.
If Hungary can reimagine its role in these terms, the gains would be both practical and symbolic. Practically, focused, researchdriven agricultural partnerships could open niche markets and create durable economic ties that fit Hungary’s export profile. Symbolically, such partnerships could help shift the broader European narrative away from paternalism and toward reciprocity, offering a quieter but more sustainable alternative to the grand gestures and geopolitical posturing that now dominate headlines.
Ultimately, the question is not whether Hungary should engage with Africa — it already does, in fits and starts — but how it chooses to engage. Will it cling to old certainties and shortterm optics, or will it invest in the patient, reciprocal work of building knowledge networks and resilient institutions? The answer matters because the world is moving toward a harsher, more competitive order in which practical cooperation and shared expertise may be among the few stabilizing forces left. Planting seeds now, in the form of research partnerships and mutual learning, may not yield immediate headlines, but it could cultivate a quieter, more durable harvest: improved productivity and resilience in Africa, and new insights and tools for Europe. In that modest reciprocity lies the possibility of a different kind of global engagement — one that replaces romantic illusions with real, shared capacity.
Cover photo credit: András Domonyai
András Domonyai is(1974) is a rural development economist, but as a continuation of family traditions, – after a long detour in theater and acting -, he runs independent agricultural research and analysis micro projects in Africa. He lives primarily in Kenya, where he researches new analytical opportunities and new connections between agrarian economy different from the mainstream and African agriculture and economy, mainly startup and innovation sectors. He has worked in agricultural and development projects in Congo, Morocco, and was a member of an East Africa ‘New edible wild plants’ expedition team in 2019. He currently lives in Mombasa, planning and supporting an experimental farm project. His agricultural expertise is the introduction of new species and varieties, new cultivation methods into cultivation in Africa, and their social and environmental impacts, as well as Africa’s connections to world and its agriculture.
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