Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 July 2018
457. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the details of the extensive consultations with farmers and a company (details supplied) carried out regarding the bovine viral diarrhoea, BVD, programme; his views on the fact that a small percentage of farmers were contacted and consulted; and the details of the €75 million benefit to the farming industry from the BVD programme. [31540/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraA national consultation to gather views on support for an industry-led national BVD eradication programme was launched by Animal Health Ireland (AHI) in December 2010. The results of the consultation process were collated in the spring of 2011 and indicated strong support for an industry-led national programme using tissue tags as the primary testing method. In 2011, a cross-industry Implementation Group was convened by AHI, meeting regularly (approximately monthly) since then. This draws members from across industry, including representatives from farming and veterinary organisations, breed societies, ICBF, Teagasc, processors and DAFM.
The BVD Implementation Group is the key decision making body for the programme, electing to initiate a voluntary programme in 2012 and, on the basis of the outcome of the voluntary programme, to move to a national programme supported by legislation in 2013. Over the course of the national programme, the prevalence of PI births has fallen from 0.66% in 2013 to 0.10% in 2017 and 0.05% in 2018 for the year to date.
A study carried out by the Scottish Agricultural College estimated that the annual losses to industry due to BVD prior to the programme were in the order of €102 million, while the average annual programme costs were in the order of €9 million. Considering the reduction in prevalence between 2013 and 2017, and accounting the average annual programme costs, this indicates net benefit to industry in 2017 of approximately €75 million.
