The budget for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in NI will receive a £15.5m boost this year, Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has confirmed.

Speaking at Balmoral Show on Wednesday, Minister Poots said the 6.2% increase in funding would equate to an extra £800 per farm on average.

“We have an availability of additional funding of £15.49m and we are passing that through to the BPS,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The DUP politician said the extra money has come from leftover funding from the COVID-19 income support scheme.

“Whenever there is a surplus of funds, previously Ministers may have sent that back to London, but I believe when the funding has been allocated to NI, it should be spent in NI where possible,” Minister Poots said.