| At a meeting with senior officials in the Department of Agriculture on inspections and payments, IFA Deputy President Eddie Downey made it abundantly clear to the Department that the payment problems and delays encountered in 2010 cannot re-occur in 2011 and the Single Farm Payment and Disadvantage Area payments must be made on time. The Department gave an absolute commitment that payments would be made on time and inspections would not delay payments in 2011. In addition, Eddie Downey said due to changes in EU regulations, the Department are in a position to reduce the number of on-farm inspections in 2011. “The number of inspections for cattle registration and tagging will be reduced by 40% from 5,900 in 2010 to 3,540 in 2011. On-farm eligibility inspections will reduce from 3,532 in 2010 to 2,900 or 18% this year. In addition, all other cross compliance SMR and GAEC will be inspected at the rate of 1% or about 1,400 farmers.” Eddie Downey said taking account of the reductions, through proper co-ordination and no duplication, the Department of Agriculture should be in a position to reduce the overall number of on-farm inspections. On payments, IFA is absolutely determined that inspections or digitising of maps will not delay payments in 2011. Eddie Downey said “the Department must ensure that they have the necessary resources to digitise the maps well before the payment deadlines this year. In addition, under no circumstances can inspections delay payments as happened last year.” On notice of inspections, Mr Downey said the EU position is that they Department of Agriculture can provide up to 14 days advance notice for ground eligibility inspections. On cross compliance checks, Eddie Downey said the Department of Agriculture can provide up to 14 days notice for SMR1 (Birds), SMR2 (Groundwater), SMR3 (Sludge), SMR4 (Nitrates), SMR5 (Habitats), SMR9 (Pesticides), SMR13,14,15 (Animal Health) and GAEC (Good Agriculture & Environmental Conditions). The Department can provide up to 48 hours notice for SMR7/8 (cattle), SMR8a (Sheep) and SMR6 (Pigs). He said the EU only insist on no-notice inspections for SMR11 (Food Hygiene), SMR2 (Feedstuffs) and SMR17 & 18 (Welfare). Eddie Downey made it clear to the Department that no notice inspections are unreasonable, unacceptable and are not required for most inspections. On payment deadlines, Eddie Downey said the Department confirmed that the full (100%) Disadvantage Area payments will be made from 22nd September. In addition, the Department will be in a position to make advance SFP payments from October 16th, if clearance is secured form the EU for advance payment. On the 2011 Single Payment applications, Eddie Downey said farmers should be extremely vigilant in checking their maps and ensure that they only apply on eligible area. He said the confusion and inaccuracies over maps sent out in the post needs to be clarified by the Department. In addition, Eddie Downey encouraged more farmers to apply for their SFP on line as this facilitates accuracy and speedy processing. |
Tuesday, 03 May 2011 15:55