Vol. 528 No. 3
95 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the position in relation to having payments to the most severely disadvantaged farmers calculated by reference to acreage, rather than per animal, and brought in line with payments to other farm ers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30332/00]
The position is that under the disadvantaged areas' compensatory allowance scheme agreed in July and since approved by the European Commission, some £360 million in additional funding has been committed over the period 2001-06. This will increase the total value of the schemes to £1.080 billion over the period concerned. 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. Total expenditure in 2001 will increase by some £60 million to £180 million. Some 81,000 farmers stand to gain under the new arrangements while about 28,000 will incur some losses. The rates of payment approved under the new scheme are £70 per hectare for up to 45 hectares of lowland in the more severely handicapped areas, £60 per hectare for up to 45 hectares of lowland in the less severely handicapped areas and £45 per hectare for up to 60 hectares in areas classified as mountain. Where a farmer has a combination of lowland and mountain he will be paid on up to 45 hectares of lowland first and then on his mountain land up to an overall limit of 60 hectares. In order to minimise any loss under the approved scheme the compensation package which I have negotiated with the European Commission ensures that 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.
I am committed to reviewing the scheme and I have asked my officials to carry out a review in the early part of next year with a view to finding an equitable long-term solution to the problem of reduced payments.
