Women farmers and young farmers could potentially be locked out of the Knowledge Transfer Programme because of certain “accessibility issues”, according to the Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture.
Anyone who is interested in participating in the programme must have submitted a Basic Income for Sustainability Support (BISS) application and, in the cases of farm partnerships, only one member of a partnership can be eligible to participate in the Knowledge Transfer Programme.
According to Deputy Claire Kerrane while this is “not specifically exclusionary” concerns have been raised that the current eligibility criteria could run the risk of excluding women farmers and young farmers.
She believes that these rules could “lock out” women farmers and young farmers from accessing the Knowledge Transfer (KT) Programme.
According to the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine the programme “aims to foster knowledge exchange and innovation between advisors, farmers and other stakeholders and will play a crucial role in helping farmers meet current and future challenges”.
“The requirement to have submitted a BISS application and rule that only one member of a farm partnership can participate in KT opportunities means that many women and young people will not have the chance to take part in the programme.
“While I understand these criteria are not specifically gendered or intentionally exclusionary, the reality is that hinging KT Programme eligibility on those conditions will only serve to exclude groups within the farming community,” Deputy Kerrane said.
She said issues around eligibility criteria had previously been raised with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, in relation to other schemes, including the Women Farmer’s Capital Investment Scheme (WFCIS) under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3).
Deputy Kerrane added: “We are now seeing a repeat of the problem with the KT Programme.
“I engaged with the Women in Agriculture Stakeholder Group (WASG) on this matter and believe that women-specific KT groups had been discussed as part of the development of the KT Programme, but they have not materialised.”
According to the Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture Minister McConalogue has “repeatedly stated his ambition to support women in agriculture and young farmers”.
But she believes this is “not being adequately reflected in actual access to schemes and opportunities which support knowledge transfer and skills development amongst those groups”.
Deputy Kerrane added: “It is crucial that the minister works to address the identified issue and ensure accessibility for the Knowledge Transfer Programme moving forward.”