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The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) was told in a meeting with Teagasc on Friday that the fodder scheme would only be available for farmers where sufficient numbers were assessed as having a fodder shortage.
“It is county specific, there’s no question about that. They’re afraid it’ll be over-subscribed,” ICSA Sligo chair Gabriel Gilmartin told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“There were three Teagasc advisers at the meeting and they’re saying they have to get a certain amount of people before declaring that a county has a problem.”
That would be very frustrating if you have 10 people in one townland that can get access to the scheme and neighbours across the road wouldn’t have access to it
“Teagasc said that they had a list of 70 names of people in Longford and north Roscommon who they know are going to be in serious trouble by St Patrick's Day.
“Those counties aren’t currently included in the scheme so we’re trying to get as many people as possible to do a fodder budget and get the scheme open in those counties.
“For west Cavan, they said they’re looking at the district electoral division, and not the whole county.
“That would be very frustrating if you have 10 people in one townland that can get access to the scheme and neighbours across the road wouldn’t have access to it.
"The Department needs to reconsider the overly restrictive parameters of the scheme and open it up to any farmer who needs fodder,” Gilmartin concluded.
This was echoed by Jim Harrison, ICSA Connacht/Ulster VP, who said, “There is no reason for the scheme not to be fully operational. Those of us in the border counties can’t wait any longer.”
Fodder scheme
The fodder scheme was introduced to help farmers suffering from fodder shortages after poor summer weather conditions led to deficit of winter fodder in certain areas.
The Department of Agriculture has remained adamant that the scheme is not county-specific, and that farmers in need can avail of it.
The terms and conditions of the scheme do not include any detail of preference given to certain regions or counties.
However, on Wednesday 7 February the Irish Farmers Journal understood that only farmers from Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, west Cavan, west Clare, Galway and Mayo were eligible to apply for the scheme, and that this restriction was put in place to cope with budgetary constraints.
Confusion reigns over fodder scheme
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