Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2004
16 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the initiatives his Department intends to take to ensure that employment opportunities for part-time farmers are supported and promoted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9164/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe need to develop viable full-time and part-time farming was one of the issues addressed in the agri-food 2010 plan of action. Subsequent actions taken by my Department were to ensure that part-time farmers had equal access to agricultural schemes on the same basis as full-time farmers and to encourage the development of off-farm employment opportunities. The availability of off-farm employment has improved significantly in recent years.
Schemes offered by my Department take full account of the wish of many farm families to supplement their incomes. For example, eligibility criteria for many grant schemes, such as farm waste management, dairy hygiene, commercial horticulture, organic sector and alternative enterprises, require applicants to have a minimum of 30 income units to meet a viability threshold and ensure that the investment is worthwhile. However, to facilitate part-time farmers only 20 of these income units need come from farming and the remaining ten can be from off-farm employment.
To qualify for installation aid and the early retirement scheme farmers are required to meet a minimum viability threshold of 50 income units but up to 30 of these can come from off-farm sources. The early retirement scheme also allows for participation by part-time farmers as transferors and transferees and the enlargement clause has been removed.
Part-time farmers are also eligible to receive the same direct payment as full-time farmers and have benefited from the increased payments under Agenda 2000. Similarly, other market support measures such as intervention and export refunds, which help maintain output prices, benefit both full and part-time farmers. In addition, part-time farmers will have the same ability to establish their entitlements to the single farm payment under the Luxembourg agreement as their full-time counterparts.
The rural viability service offered by Teagasc contributes to meeting the needs of part-time farmers and identifying methods of boosting their household incomes. Programmes such as Leader have also encouraged the development of off-farm local enterprises. The Government is committed to ensuring that small-scale producers have opportunities to supplement their incomes through off-farm work and that farm families have a choice in this matter. Obviously for part-time farmers, the availability of off-farm jobs in the economy is extremely important and is the key to their remaining in and contributing to the development of rural communities.
Since the Government came into office many additional job opportunities have been created that allow those farmers who wish to supplement their income through off-farm employment to do so. This, in effect, allows these farmers to benefit from the flexibility that is available in many of the schemes operated by my Department for full-time and part-time farmers and by the economic climate that has resulted from the policies of the Government, which has created substantial job opportunities for those wishing to avail of off-farm employment.
