Fruit & veg reforms and the Single Farm Payment
12 April 2007
Following debate in the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels, Jim Allister MEP spoke of his concern about the impact the pending reform of the Fruit & Vegetable sector could have on the Single Farm Payment scheme in Northern Ireland.
In a statement Mr Allister said:-
"While I generally welcome liberalisation and simplification of the arrangements, arising from the integration of the Fruit & Vegetable sector into the Single Farm Payment system, I must raise a specific concern relevant to my constituency.
Though now it will be possible to use Fruit & Vegetable land and orchards to activate SFP payments, in regions, such as mine, where there were no processing aids - essentially because the eligible crops are not grown there - , there will be no extra cash added to the SFP budget. In consequence, it seems the only way additional SFP could be allocated to fruit and vegetable producers in Northern Ireland would be to scaleback all existing SFP entitlements as a means of generating the funds required. This would be punitive on existing SFP recipients and not acceptable, particularly on the back of unfair voluntary modulation. I have written to Minister Cairns on this issue and await his response.
Thus, it seems to me the Commission should be looking at specific relief for regions which did not qualify for processing aids, but which on the back of this reform now will face additional SFP demands."
