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A total of €37m has been paid out to 21,000 participants under the €300m BDGP so far. The six-year programme was launched in May 2015.
According to Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed, approximately 4,200 farmers have yet to receive payment under the scheme.
A total of 29,865 applicants were accepted into the BDGP by the closing date of 5 June 2015, of which 4,615 applicants subsequently withdrew. Of those herds that had withdrawn, 125 applicants requested re-entry and were duly accepted. Subsequently, a further 132 herds were excluded due to the absence of eligible animals.
Of the herds that were left, approximately 1,200 have not returned any genomic samples and a further 3,000 herds have not submitted sufficient samples and/or data to be eligible for payment at this point.
Creed said his Department has recently issued letters to all of these applicants and is finalising the position regarding each applicant as replies are received.
Farmers in the BDGP are eligible to receive a payment of €142.50/ha for the first 6.66 payable hectares under the scheme, and €120 per payable hectare after that.
The eligible hectares on which an applicant is entitled to claim will be equal to the number of calved cows on his/her holding in 2014 (known as reference animals) divided by a standard stocking rate of 1.5LU/ha.
Payment under the BDGP began in mid-December 2015.
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