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Pig farmers have expressed frustration on the €80,000 ceiling under the TAMS II scheme. North Tipperary IFA chair Tim Cullinan said that upgrading facilities has a significant impact on disease, thus reducing the use of antimicrobial drugs.
“The €80,000 limit needs to be increased,” he said.
Cullinan was speaking at the Department of Agriculture’s conference on anti-microbial resistance (AMR) in Mullingar on Wednesday.
His point was reiterated by a question from Louth pig farmer Colin Marry, who queried how much political capital is behind the AMR issue.
“We’re probably the only sector that doesn’t get funding for discussion groups and we have to travel the furthest,” Marry said. “Also the DAFM is giving funding to encourage the use of fermentation tanks, but there is now science behind it to prove these works, so I think there needs to be a bit more flexibility in the choice of where funding goes.
“I hope that the new minister will give this the attention it needs if AMR is the crisis that we are being told it is.”
The chief inspector at the Department of Agriculture Bill Callanan said that under the Rural Development Programme “DAFM has been very clear in terms of trying to make expenditure more targeted. Water systems and energy efficiency were key things that came through in the pig and poultry consultations so they are there.”
Cullinane also called for stricter controls surrounding the import of live pigs to Ireland.
“Into the future we as pig farmers can’t do it alone. There’s still a huge threat from other diseases we haven’t got yet in Ireland,” Cullinane said. “We are an island, surrounded by water. I think we do need stronger protocols surrounding the import of live animals to protect our industry.”
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