The Ulster Farmers’ Union are pleased with the announcement that DARD has submitted the Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme (NIRDP) 2014-2020 to the European Commission. It is expected that DARD will received initial feedback on the programme from European Commission Officials after 3 months, with full approval expected by the spring.
Commenting on the submission, UFU President Ian Marshall said: “It is positive to hear that the NIRDP has finally been submitted to the European Commission however, it is disappointing that we are one of the last regions in Europe to submit its programme and unfortunately, that probably means that the NIRDP will be added to the back of the queue to be approved by Brussels.
“In the meantime, it is important that DARD now work at ensuring a smooth delivery of this programme so that once approval is received measures can be opened for application as soon as possible to allow farmers and rural communities to start to avail of these schemes. The total £623 million funding allocated for the NIRDP means that DARD can deliver a fairly comprehensive package and it is positive that many of the measures proposed by the UFU are included in this programme.
Ian Marshall continued: “One of the elements of the programme, the Farm Business Improvement Scheme will be crucial and attractive to many farmers. Nevertheless, there are some concerns that Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill still has to bid to secure the additional £250million for these measures at a time when Northern Ireland Executive’s budgets are under severe pressure. While we understand that there are not the same difficulties with the NI Executive’s budget for capital programmes such as this, we would still urge them to stand by their commitments to the agri-food sector on this issue. The commitment for agri-environment schemes is also welcomed by the UFU but it is up to DARD to ensure that the delays in submission do not result in a gap between farmers ending existing agri-environment contracts and being able to apply for the new Environmental Farming Scheme”.
Ian Marshall concluded: “The UFU has already had several meetings with DARD to discuss the detail of the various measures included in the Programme and will continue to work hard to ensure that as the schemes are further developed, bureaucracy is kept to a minimum and that the schemes remain relevant and attractive to farmers.”
