Farmers in the west are being forced to pay significantly higher prices for green diesel than their counterparts in the rest of the country.

The latest quarterly fuel price survey by the IFA has found that the price of agricultural diesel in counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon has risen by more than 10% since the last survey, compared with a 2% increase recorded in Leinster, 4% in Munster and 5% in Ulster.

National rise of 4%

Nationally, the cost of agricultural diesel has risen by 4% to 63c/l, with similar increases being recorded for car diesel, which now costs almost 117c/l.

The IFA’s inputs project team chair John Coughlan described the disproportionate increase in fuel prices in western counties as “unjustifiable”.

The highest price for diesel recorded in the survey was in Co Leitrim, where farmers paid 74.9c/l – more than 15c/l higher than the their counterparts in Co Donegal, where green diesel was available for 59.5c/l. Farmers in Ulster counties paid the lowest average of 60.54c/l, while the average price paid in Leinster was 61.9c/l and those in Munster paid 62.05c/l.

In contrast, the average price paid by farmers filling up in Connacht was 66.67c/l.