| IFA Rural Development Chairman Bernard Treanor said the Department of Agriculture must now proceed to accept all 6,850 applicants for AEOS 2 as this figure is lower than what is required to trigger the points system for eligibility. Mr Treanor said that given the watering down of this year’s scheme by the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney the potential of 15,000 farmers applying for the scheme has been more than halved. “Many farmers were turned off by the damaging changes to the 2011 scheme where the maximum payment was reduced by 20%, a reduction in the maximum area that was allowed for certain measures and the uncertainty for farmers who had to employ a consultant to make an application for a scheme that could be rejected,” he said. In addition, Mr. Treanor pointed to the failure to make any payment to date for the 2010 AEOS 1 applicants made farmers question the Minister’s commitment to the scheme. The IFA Rural Development Chairman said that Minister Coveney must now ensure the reduced allocation of €25m is fully utilised and that plans commence without further delay. Following a meeting of the National Rural Development Committee, members expressed their anger that no payment had yet been made to 2010 AEOS I applicants. All payments due must now be made so that the credibility of AEOS is somewhat restored. The excuse that the Department computer system is not ready is not acceptable in these days of advanced technology. The Department of Agriculture has sat on AEOS 1 applications now for over 13 months while farmers have to comply and incur costs as part of their agri-environment plan. Mr Treanor said that Minister Coveney must proceed to implement proposals sent to Brussels last July to increase the Natura payment from €75/ha to €150/ha and to allow 30kg of Nitrogen per hectare on Species Rich Grassland. The EU Commission has no problem with these proposals and these changes which were promised to farmers must be implemented and backdated to last year’s scheme. |
Sunday, 05 June 2011 19:59