President of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Joe Healy has described the government’s response to the fodder crisis in the north-west as a case of “Rome continues to burn as Nero fiddles”.

Healy made the comments this morning (Friday, January 5) on RTE Radio One show, Morning Ireland, while appealing for government support for meal vouchers and fodder transportation.

To start things off, presenter Audrey Carville noted that Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, has previously stated that he does not believe there is a national fodder crisis. She reminded Healy that the minister has described the situation as “a particular geographic issue that is being addressed”.

In response to this, Healy said: “He appreciated that there was a local geographical one, and particularly in the north-west; but I think it’s down all the way along the west coast.

Healy said he “very disappointing” with the minister’s efforts to address the situation; despite his acknowledgment that there are problems before Christmas.

Nothing has been done since; it’s a real case of ‘Rome continues to burn while Nero fiddles’ and we have called on the minister on a number of occasions to issue meal vouchers, and at the moment we’re calling on him to subsidise the transport of travel.

Healy explained the need for assistance with transport, noting: “IFA, at our national council meeting in the middle of December, took it into our own hands and we twinned counties – for example, we twinned Cavan with Kilkenny, Leitrim with Wexford.

“We twinned counties where there is a shortage of fodder, with counties that we’d hoped that there is adequate fodder.”

Transport

Expanding, the president said: “Through our branch network of 947 branches we’re identifying farmers in the north-west that have a fodder shortage; and identifying farmers in the south and in east where maybe they have bales, surplus bales and surplus fodder and transporting those – but the transport of those is quite expensive.”

Regarding the fodder action group established by the minister last month, Healy said: “That has met once, nothing has been done; Teagasc has been involved and they’ve done a survey in that area.

They have found that 85% of farmers have less than half the fodder that’s required to see them through for the winter. Now that’s a Teagasc survey, it’s not an IFA one.

The IFA president warned: “We’re now into January there’s some farmers already out of silage.”

When asked why the IFA should expect the tax-payer to bail farmers out every time there’s a problem with grain, Healy replied: “We’re not expecting the tax-payer every time, all we want is a little help.

“As I said to the IFA, and our farmer members in the south and east, we’re doing as much as we can by  gathering bales and donating bales to those people. But, the cost of transport could be anything between €10 and €20 per bale from the east up to the north.”

Fodder prices doubling?

When it was put to the president about the reported doubling of fodder since the harvest; and whether farmers who are are ‘helping out’ with surplus bales are cashing in on it? Healy said: “No, and again Audrey, that’s why the IFA got involved.

“The bales that we’re gathering together through our branch network are really at cost about €20-€25 a bale.

“It costs €13-€14 a bale, to bale and wrap that, and at least another €7-€10 to fertilise it and gather those bales. So again, the farmers that are donating them, all they want are their costs covered, and that’s done through IFA.

The farmers in the north-west will pay that for them; they can’t afford to pay the double amount that you’re talking about and basically all we’re calling for is that some work will be done on transportation of those bales. Some subsidy needs to be given towards it.

“We’re working nationally and locally – we’re also involved with Teagasc and the co-ops and the feed merchants around the country to come up with different ways to help farmers get through it,” he said.

“The minister has obviously acknowledged that there’s a problem when he set up a fodder action group; that fodder action group met around the middle of December and nothing has been done since,” concluded Healy.