Vol. 474 No. 4
50 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the way in which he proposes to ensure that the maps provided to farmers in support of cereal area aid applications are adequate and accurate and the deficiencies which were evident in the system in 1996 will not be repeated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3087/97]
As part of the reform of the common agriculture policy in 1992, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry is obliged under Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3508/92 to establish an integrated administration and control system (IACS). A specific requirement of the system is the development of an alpha-numeric land parcel identification system (LPIS) for all land parcels which are the subject of an area aid application. The original deadline for implementation of the system was 1 January 1996. As the Deputy will appreciate, this was an extremely large project involving over 130,000 farmers who between them submitted just under 500,000 maps comprising some 750,000 land parcels. Given the size of the project and the short timeframe within which to complete it, it was almost inevitable that some problems would arise with its introduction last year.
However, those problems which arose on the 1996 area aid applications have been addressed. Amendments identified on the 1996 area aid applications are being taken into account in updating the system for my Department which is in contact with those farmers affected with a view to having the position clarified in time for 1997. As part of the update for 1997, validation of the land parcel identification system against aerial photography is taking place.
My Department will commence issuing maps to farmers in mid-March 1997 in time for submission of 1997 area aid applications. As a further improvement on last year, these updated maps will be printed against a photographic background and will be centred on individual farms rather than on a townland as was the case last year.
While the LPIS, as with any mapping system, will be subject to ongoing amendment, I am satisfied that the additional development of the LPIS over the past year will eliminate the majority of the problems experienced by farmers when it was first introduced.
