The wheat harvest was up 10.3pc from the previous year at 4.1m tonnes and the maize harvest rose 15.8pc to 8.1m tonnes. Average yield per hectare rose 13.5pc for wheat and edged up 1.9pc for maize. The sunflower seed harvest jumped 41.0pc to 1.4m tonnes from the previous year and was up 15.2pc over the annual harvest for 2006-2010. Average yield per hectare climbed 23.3pc on the year. The sugar beet harvest fell 5.9pc to 771m tonnes from 2010. The amount was almost 40pc under the annual average for 2006-2010 because of the phasing out of European Union sugar subsidies which forced many farmers to start growing other crops. The rape seed harvest reached 527m tonnes in 2011, practically level with the previous year. Hungarian farmers harvested 564m tonnes of potatoes last year, 15.6pc more than in 2010. The alfalfa harvest declined 5.3pc to 556m tonnes from the previous year as the area on which it was sown fell.