Farms' Income Needs Vision: SDLP

The Department of Agriculture must become the champion of a new vision of rural life and win the resources to deliver on the ground for farmers and all rural families.

The SDLP Deputy Leader and Agriculture spokesperson Patsy McGlone said yesterday: "It is apparent that the financial pressures which the Department faces are partly of its own making.

"It may face cutbacks due to its non-compliance with EU regulations that govern area-based payment schemes. A disallowance of £30m has been proposed for 2004-06, with an additional £30m for 2007-08," he said.

"We are in a credit crunch and there is huge, growing unemployment and yet a requirement relating to funding had not been inserted into the Executive Budget," he fumed.

"Those of us who represent and speak for rural areas feel that the investment needs to be made urgently," he continued.

"The Assembly's Agriculture Committee has recognised other issues, such as the land parcel improvement scheme, which is a drive to bring about better compliance with EC area and scheme regulations and reduce the risk of Commission disallowance.

"Given that the Department already faces a £60m disallowance, that project would be very useful for improving IT systems, maps, data quality, rules about eligibility of claims and standards of inspection, and it would involve significant cross-departmental working with Land and Property Services," he continued, noting that the overall cost is around £14m.

"However, when measured against the potential reduction in future European Commission disallowance, payback would be achieved within two years," he said.

"However, such revitalisation will require the Department to be committed, positive and capable of identifying where the problem lies and coming forward with ideas to deal with it.

"But we have a department geared to static administration of handed-down money when we need dynamic leadership and vision. It is the job of the Minister to impart the vision and provide the leadership, but what we have seen to date is not encouraging," he said.

"The countryside must be much more than an after-thought in an essentially urban society.

"We need a clear vision of what we want our countryside to be in two generations' time. Then we can seek and get the resources and investment to make it happen."

(BMcC/GK)