Tipperary Sinn Féin TD, Martin Browne has questions about the willingness of Bord na Móna (BNM) to assist professional growers in securing supplies of peat for horticulture, when he claims reports from the industry in Tipperary indicate an inability to contact the semi-state company.
Deputy Browne, a member of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine said: “I expressed my serious concerns to Bord na Móna representatives at their level of engagement with members of professional growers in the horticultural industry who are seeking information on access to peat supplies.
“I have been informed locally that calls to the semi-state company have gone either unanswered or have not been responded to, as efforts were made to enquire about securing some of the horticultural peat stock that has been put aside since harvesting ceased.
“I raised this with BNM during the week’s committee meeting and told them that we are at a stage in the year where, if our growers can’t get in contact with BNM in the first place, we run a massive risk of jobs being lost, which is simply unacceptable,” he added.
The TD has called on Bord na Móna to resolve the issue in order to ensure the future viability of the industry.
He said the sector is facing increased costs, lower footfall and a shortage of horticultural peat supplies.
“And while a lease agreement has recently been made with ICL to run the mixing facility at Cúil na Móna, this does not mean that BNM has an excuse to delay talking to the professional growers until the changeover is finalised,” the deputy added.
“Efforts to assist the sector must improve rapidly,” he said.
Horticulture report
Last week a horticulture report detailed how trends in Ireland’s food retail market and changes in consumer behaviour are threatening the viability of the Irish horticulture sector.
The report which was prepared by economist Jim Power for the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), outlined how a shift in the proportion of household income spent on food over the past 25 years, as well as significant downward pressure on retail prices, is putting intense pressure on the primary producers in the sector.
According to the report, the consumer spent 9.5% of their household expenditure on food in 1995. However, by 2019, this figure had declined to 7.8%.