More than €10 million has been paid to farmers to date under the Knowledge Transfer (KT) Scheme, while an additional €6.7 million has been paid to KT facilitators so far.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed announced these figures last week in response to a parliamentary question from Deputy Pat Deering, who inquired as to the number of applicants, payments to date and the payment timeframe.
Measures
Speaking on the matter, Minister Creed said: “Knowledge Transfer is one of a suite of measures included under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and involves the formation of knowledge transfer groups across the beef, dairy, equine, sheep, tillage and poultry sectors.
“Out of approximately 20,200 applicants almost 19,100 farmers were approved and have actively participated in year one of the programme – attending a range of Knowledge Transfer group meetings, Knowledge Transfer approved national events and completing Farm Improvement Plans and Animal Health Measures.”
Facilitators who complete all of the requirements of the programme receive a payment of €500 per participant for each year of the three-year programme, the minister noted, while farmer participants who complete all of the necessary requirements receive a payment of €750 per annum.
To date, in excess of €10 million has been paid to over 14,200 participants across the six sectors. In addition, in excess of €6.7 million has been paid to date to approved Knowledge Transfer facilitators across six sectors.
“Payments are ongoing with payments in respect of participants and facilitators who did not fully complete their scheme commitments in year one due to issue shortly,” Minister Creed said.