A coronavirus support package worth £25m has been allocated to the Northern Ireland (NI) agri food sector.
The announcement was made by Minister for Finance Conor Murphy on Tuesday.
The funding is being given to DAERA for “agri food sector market intervention”.
It is now up to DAERA to decide how the money will be allocated to individual farm businesses across NI.
Last week, DAERA Minister Edwin Poots said his department would top-up any coronavirus support that is made available for NI agri food.
“I am willing to search about the department and see what we can do to assist that as well. I won’t be going to the Executive asking them to do it all,” he said.
It means the total aid package that will be made available is likely to be greater than £25m.
Another potential funding avenue is unspent funds from the Rural Development Programme.
Up to £2.3m is potentially available to DAERA under proposals currently being considered by Brussels.
Read more in this week’s NI edition of the Irish Farmers Journal and at www.ifj.ie/ni