There is no record in my Department of having received an application from the person named for an allocation of suckler cow quota from the year 2001 national reserve. He did apply for an allocation from the 2000 national reserve under category D. This category was reserved for farmers who did not qualify under any of the priority categories A, B or C. Quota could only be allocated to category D applicants if any quota remained in the reserve after allocations were made to eligible applicants under the priority categories. Because of the demand for reserve quota, there was only sufficient quota available to allow allocations to be made to category D applicants who had less than eight livestock units.
As the person named had 52 livestock units, there was no quota remaining that could be allocated to him. In all, 5,744 farmers applied under category D but only 881 of these received a reserve quota allocation. Of the 4,863 farmers who did not receive an allocation, 3,978 had less that 52 livestock units. There was insufficient quota in the 2001 reserve to allow any allocations to be made to any of the applicants under category D.
The next allocation of reserve quota will be made from the 2002 national reserve in November next. The criteria and priority categories will be proposed by the quota review group in July next and submitted to me for approval and I cannot say at this stage what priority categories they will propose.
