FARMERS in Northern Ireland will not receive advance Single Farm Payments (SFPs) this year.

In May, EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel offered Member States the opportunity to make advance SFP payments of 70 per cent in October this year.

However this week, some three months after the EU decision, Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew said DARD would not be making these early payments due to the "late" announcement from the EU that she could do so.

The Minister also said advance payments could not be made until all inspections were completed, which will take some time yet.

The decision has been met with anger and frustration from farmers who were depending on the early payments to pay off loan debts.

The Ulster Farmers' Union expressed its disappointment and said the Minister's decision made it even more important that as many farmers as possible receive the SFPs in December.

A spokesperson for the EU told FarmWeek that the offer had been made to all Members States and it was up to them to administer the offer.

However, they would not comment further on Ms Gildernew's decision.

It also appears that Defra has not yet decided whether to make the advance payments.

Tom Elliott, the deputy chair of the Assembly's Agriculture Committee, said: "I think the Minister's argument to not make these advance payments is a weak one.

"There seems to be a problem in DARD with inspector numbers and I call for a single inspection agency to be set up to tackle this burden of red tape and duplicate inspections which are a waste of time for everyone.

"The sooner we can have a single agency carrying out all inspections on farms the sooner we can save time, costs and ensure payments are made on time and without a lot of hassle," said Mr Elliott.

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August 13th 2009
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