The Department of Agriculture’s IT infrastructure is yet again causing serious problems for farmers.

Access to online portals for the Knowledge Transfer Programme has already delayed group facilitators in their work, delays that could potentially affect farmers’ incomes.

The news that those same online portals have been intermittently unavailable since they were launched last Saturday morning is a poor indictment of the Department’s IT infrastructure.

Following on from the IT issues in relation to the GLAS scheme, a complete review of the Department’s IT capabilities must be on the agenda.