asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries what progress has been made with the pilot area established a few years ago in County Donegal; and if it is a fact that lack of capital is the principal brake on the development of farms in the pilot area; and that only a small proportion of the farmers in this area are now full time engaged in farming.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Donegal Pilot Area.
27.
The Pilot Area Development Programme only commenced in Donegal in February of last year and, although the programme is essentially a long-term one, the results to date have been most encouraging. Notable developments in the Donegal pilot area have been the organisation, for the first time, of creamery milk production; the completion of a successful lime and fertiliser campaign; the organisation of joint activity in land drainage, group water schemes and co-operative transport of livestock; and the erection of new farm buildings.
In Donegal, as in the West generally, one of the problems is to get credit facilities widely availed of, and indeed this, and not lack of credit facilities, is one of the major problems which the advisers in the pilot areas are having to contend with.
As to the final part of the Deputy's question, since a high proportion of the farmers in the Donegal pilot area have holdings under 30 acres, it is understandable that a number of them seek to supplement their incomes from farming.