The president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) said ‘government inaction’ is the reason farmers need aid subsidies time and time again.
Dermot Kelleher said the €7 million pig support scheme package that was announced earlier this week (Tuesday, February 22), is another example of of the government being forced to provide support because of its own inaction.
Kelleher has accused the government of failing to ensure producers get a fair price for their produce while the processor and retailers enjoy significant profits.
“Farmers are not receiving a fair share of the end retail price, and this is where the problem starts and ends,” he said.
The package which was approved by Cabinet on Tuesday will provide a flat rate payment of up to €20,000 to commercial pig farmers that send more than 200 animals to slaughter annually.
Kelleher said he hopes that bureaucracy will be kept to a minimum so pig farmers can receive the aid as quickly as possible, but added that rounds of emergency aid will have no end if action isn’t taken.
“The penny must drop that we cannot keep paying farmers unsustainably low prices that do not cover the basic cost of production. This is now more urgent than ever given the way input costs have risen so steeply in recent months.”
He called on the government and all EU member states to legislate for fairness for the primary producer, and said this can only be achieved with the establishment of a regulator that can enforce cooperation among major players.
“We can have stakeholder meeting after stakeholder meeting about this, but the reality is that without the ability to compel processors and retailers to be more transparent about their margins, it will not happen,” he concluded.