Rural Development Must Deliver for Farmers
25 July 2007
Jim Allister MEP has said the announcement of EU approval for the new Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme will be taken with, ‘a pinch of salt’.
The MEP said,
‘The context to which this Programme finds itself is one of huge frustration from farmers who struggled to cope with the bureaucratic hurdles of the outgoing Programme. I personally wait to be convinced that future delivery of funding Measures will be, ‘farmer-friendly’ and accessible to farmers.’
Mr Allister added,
‘Farmers are right to be sceptical this time round, as a cheque to the tune of £163 million in the form of modulation deductions from Single Farm Payments between 2007-13 has effectively been written against their wishes, in order to fund the new Programme.
Voluntary modulation is being used to get Government off the hook in its failure to provide even basic rural services. This is despite the intentions of Commissioner Fischer Boel to abolish voluntary modulation in the forthcoming CAP Health Check to make way for a higher rate of compulsory modulation of 10%.’
‘I hold my own reservations at the relatively small proportion of money being spent on Measures which will actually assist the Agricultural industry to become more competitive, particularly when compared with the situation in other EU Member States. France is spending a massive 34% of total funds on this vital area under Axis 1, while in Northern Ireland the figure is approximately 11% of EU funds. Meanwhile, approximately one third of EU funds have been diverted into axis 3 ‘social’ measures here, compared with only 6% in the French Scheme and 14% in Holland.’
‘It is not satisfactory that the farming industry is losing the opportunity to increase its competitive standing, simply because our Government refuses to mainstream investment in rural areas. Indeed, this approach has been reinforced by the new Agriculture Minister under devolution, in her decision to apply voluntary modulation at an unacceptable rate, which will actually make our industry less competitive versus other EU countries. This is in contradiction to the aims of Rural Development.’
‘A large proportion of the £500 million announced will go into maintaining the Northern Ireland countryside through Agri-Environment payments, including Countryside Management and Less Favoured Areas. The important role farmers provide maintaining the countryside should be recognised, and this is an important component of the CAP. However, farmers’ primary role of feeding the Nation with safe, high quality food must be given due recognition, particularly as competition for alternative land uses becomes more apparent, increasing the cost of livestock production. I fear a major opportunity has been lost, as our industry prepares itself to meet the challenges of CAP reform, and as moves towards a WTO deal are progressed.’
ENDS
