The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is calling on processors to deliver a very significant price increase for pig farmers tomorrow (Friday, April 1).
IFA Pigs Committee chair, Roy Gallie said: “Pig farmers have been haemorrhaging money since September 2021 and losses have risen to €40 per pig sold.”
Since the introduction of the IFA’s DNA scheme, the Irish pig price has been at the European average, according to the association.
“We are currently 30c/kg below it. Farmers need an immediate price increase given the very serious crisis in the sector,” Gallie said.
“Cashflows now are unsustainable. This is an extremely urgent situation.”
Roy Gallie is calling on all processors to announce a 30c/kg rise tomorrow to restore the Irish pig market to the European average level.
Pig price
This latest call follows a protest held at government buildings earlier this week, organised by pig farmers from the IFA.
Officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) are now assessing a proposal for a €100 million support package for the pig sector in the wake of the protest, Minister Charlie McConalogue has said.
The proposal – which is jointly compiled by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Meat Industry Ireland (MII) and the Irish Grain and Feed Association (IGFA) – was submitted to the department earlier this month.
On Tuesday (March 29), pig farmer members of the IFA held a protest outside the department’s offices in Kildare Street in Dublin to call for the proposal to be acted upon.
The minister confirmed in the Dáil this week that the proposal was being assessed by his officials.
However, answering questions from deputies Matt Carthy (Sinn Féin) and Christopher O’Sullivan (Fianna Fáil) he argued that the ask from the IFA “was massive”.