NI : Slice to come off SFP

By James Campbell

The slice to be taken off Single Farm Payments in Northern Ireland to fund the National Reserve for 'hardship' allocations of SFP could be as much as 8%.

Irish Farmers Journal sources have indicated that the estimated call on the National Reserve in Scotland and Wales is shaping up at close to 8%. It is not yet known what percentage of the SFP budget will be required in England or Northern Ireland, but if demand is similar to the other regions of the UK it could result in a clawback of between 7% and 8% off the SFP entitlements of the majority of farmers throughout the UK. England holds the key as it has the biggest number of farms. A lower percentage demand for "hardship'' allocations in England would pull down the percentage of SFP clawback for Scotland, Wales and NI as the National Reserve is being calculated on a UK wide basis.

Questioned by the Farmers Journal, senior officials of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) refused to be drawn, except to say that the clawback would probably be between 3% and 8% and could end up around 5%. For those contributing to the Reserve, this compares unfavourably with the clawback of marginally under 3% that has been applied in the Republic of Ireland. However, for the beneficiaries of the entitlements on "hardship'' grounds it will be a welcome result.

Meanwhile, the provision in the pre-Christmas EU budget deal for member states to deduct up to 20% from SFP entitlements by way of "modulation'' to raise funds for rural development has opened up the possibility of UK regions taking a bigger than previously expected slice off the SFP. According to Jim Allister MEP, the necessity for voluntary modulation money to be match funded in the future by the Government has also been removed.

Expressing concern about this, the MEP said he believed that over 30% of the SFP could be removed in future years following the agreement reached in Brussels. Allister warned that UK farmers could be disadvantaged relative to other regions of Europe, as the British government seemed most likely to exercise the option to slice more off the SFP.

The Farmers Journal understands that Northern Ireland and other separate regions will be in a position to decide a different level of modulation than England, as has been the case in 2005 with differing implementation of the SFP regime in each region. Sources within DARD indicate that there is unlikely to be any rush in NI to draw down the full 20% modulation that the new EU budget would allow. It is more likely that some time will be taken to allow the current SFP regime to settle.

DARD's target of making a 75% interim payment on 75% of SFP claims by 31 January 2006 has been surpassed with 75.7% (31,505 claims) paid on 23 December 05. According to a DARD spokeswoman, these payments were worth £118m. Payments continue to be processed and by Wednesday 76.4% (31,782 claims) had been paid, bringing the total to £119.3m. DARD states that this is far above the amount paid under equivalent schemes at the same time in previous years.

For the 9,800 claimants still awaiting payment, EU rules do not allow interim payments to be made until eligibility has been established, meaning not all claims can be paid immediately. These include applications where the same field has been claimed by more than one farmer, where an on-farm inspection has found a field area has changed and has not been previously reported to the department, and business changes where the Department must be sure that the claimant has the right of entitlement or where probate documents have to be checked. There are around 3,500 cases with duplicate field queries.

The spokeswoman said that DARD is taking all possible steps to have payments issued at the earliest possible date.