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Around 2,000 farmers look set to drop out of year one of the Knowledge Transfer (KT) programme.
Figures from the Department of Agriculture show that by Wednesday morning, 17,200 farm improvement plans had been completed by KT group facilitators.
A further 800 farm improvement plans were in progress.
However, with 20,000 farmers signed up to the scheme, this leaves 2,000 KT plans which had not been touched by the farmer or group facilitator.
This signals a potential dropout rate of 10% in the first year of the scheme, which has been beset by computer problems.
IT issues
IT issues struck again on Sunday night, when the online system crashed for more than nine hours, preventing farm improvement plans from being uploaded.
As a result, the deadline for KT was pushed back by 48 hours from midnight on Monday to midnight on Wednesday.
The completion of animal health measures were even further behind, with just 15,550 completed by vets on behalf of farmers by Wednesday morning.
Animal health measures are compulsory in year one for farmers in livestock KT groups.
However, the low completion rate suggests that some farmers may have chosen to take the penalty of €225 on their KT payment of €750.
Veterinary charges ranged from as little at €75 right up to €250 and even more in some cases.
Payment to eligible farmers in KT groups is expected to issue within three months of the end of the scheme year, 31 July, in accordance with the Farmers’ Charter of Rights.
Department ducks Knowledge Transfer charges row
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