This article is from page 38 of the 2007-06-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 38 JPG
MINISTER for Agriculture, Fisher- ies and Food, Mary Coughlan, has announced the publication of the de- partment’s Annual Report for 2006, saying that the year was “marked by the adoption by Government of a policy framework for the develop- ment of the agri-food sector over the next decade”’.
Some of the most important aspects of farming covered by the report in- cluded rural development, sectoral initiatives, REPS and bioenergy.
In rural development, the minister stated that the agricultural provi- sions of the new partnership, To- wards 2016, which are designed to
address the issues of competitiveness and sustainability, were agreed with the Farming Social Partners.
The partnership includes a com- mitment that exchequer funding of €4.7 billion will be made available for the farm schemes under the Ru- ral Development Programme in the period 2007- 2013.
The Rural Development Plan, par- tially co-funded by the EU, provides for total expenditure of €7.5 billion and will implement a number of measures in the agriculture section of Towards 2016.
The Action Plan for the Future of the Agri-Food Sector was published in March and sets out a new vision for the future of the sector in the light
of the major changes now impacting on it. In order to survive and grow, Ireland’s agri-food industry must be highly competitive on both EU and world markets.
The minister said that a significant number of sectoral initiatives had been announced in 2006, includ- ing major capital investment for the dairy processing sector.
“The Government committed €100 million to the fund, to generate greater efficiencies in the process- ing industry and enable the sector to gain an increasing share of world markets.”
A €50 million investment scheme for the beef and sheepmeat sectors and a €250 million Animal Welfare,
Recording and Breeding Scheme for suckler herds, were both announced.
The report emphasied that an “agreement was secured from the European Commission to make ad- vance payments under the Single Payment Scheme, to compensate farmers for the adverse weather con- ditions in late spring and early sum- mer’. Between the months of Octo- ber and December over one billion euro was paid to 118,000 farmers.
The minister pointed out that the development of Bioenergy was a par- ticular priority in 2006
“Provision of €14 million was made to cover a number of initia- tives aimed at encouraging farmers to grow energy crops.”