the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he will make a statement regarding the financial consequences for individual farmers regarding the changeover to an area based method of calculating entitlement to the various livestock grant schemes; if land quality is a determining factor regarding the level of grant aid available; and if so, if each farmer will have his or her holding assessed individually. [4147/01]
Written Answers. - Grant Payments.
47.
The scheme agreed with the Irish Farmers Association in July last year and since approved by the European Commission provides for area related payments as follows:
More severely handicapped (lowland) – £70 per hectare up to 45 hectares;
Less severely handicapped and coastal areas with specific handicap (lowland) – £60 per hectare up to 45 hectares;
Mountain type land – £45 per hectare up to 60 hectares.
The European Commission has indicated that payments under an area based scheme cannot be linked to production on the farm and can only be differentiated by reference to the disadvantaged status of the land in question. In Ireland's case land is designated as more severely handicapped and less severely handicapped and coastal areas with specific handicap and within those areas certain types of land are classified as mountain type grazing.
The land parcel identification system which is in place in my Department is capable of attributing the appropriate disadvantaged status to each land parcel claimed by farmers on their area aid applications. The question of assessing each individual farmer's holding does not therefore arise.
The Government has already committed some £360 million additional funding for the scheme over the period 2001-06. The new arrangements involve a cost of £180 million in 2001, representing an increase of about £60 million over 2000. It is estimated that the number of farmers qualifying for payment under the new area based scheme will rise from 90,000 currently to 109,000 in 2001. From 2001, some 81,000 farmers stand to gain about £66 million annually while 28,000 farmers will incur some losses. I have, however, negotiated a compensation package for losers under which 90% of losses will be made good in 2001, 80% in 2002 and 50% in 2003. Under these arrangements the average loss in 2001 will be about £32 rising to £64 in 2002.
My officials are currently reviewing the scheme to see if an equitable long-term solution can be found to the problem of reduced payments particularly in mountain type areas.