By unlocking the export potential China offers the pig industry, not to mention the red meat sector as a whole, we could gain entry into a marketplace which comprises a fifth of the world’s population.NBA adds to calls for modulation cut
THE National Beef Association (NBA) has added its voice to calls for English modulation rates to be cut in light of fears some of the funds raised could have to be returned to Brussels.
The NBA has echoed NFU president Peter Kendall call to cut the amount of money being taken from Single Payments to fund the schemes and make rural development schemes more attractive and accessible to farmers.
The comments come in response to a report warning that millions of pounds allocated to England’s £3.9 billion Rural Development Programme (RDP) to Brussels, including money raised by national modulation, could be wasted.
A combination of a lack of uptake in some schemes and exchange rate movements mean Defra faces being left with unspent funds when the RDP schemes end in 2013. Any unspent funds would have to be returned to Brussels after 2015, the National Audit Office report waned.
The Government has responded by seeking to cut its share of rural development funding, while Defra has said it is working with its ‘partner’ bodies to increase scheme uptake.
But the NBA said it believed too much of the Pillar Two funding, administered by the Regional Development Agencies and other bodies was ‘inaccessible’ to individual farmers.
It called on Defra to either ‘dismantle the bureaucratic barricades’, which surround modulation money or ‘immediately reduce’ the English modulation rate, which at 12 per cent is the highest in the EU.
“It is absurd to strip such a high proportion of modulation off farmers’ single farm payment, just to make a refund back to the European Commission,” said NBA director, Kim Haywood.
“The NBA calls on Defra to reduce the percentage of modulation so that fewer funds are removed from the much needed Pillar One support, to allow farmers to make their own business investment choices without jumping through ERDP bureaucratic hoops.”
Last week, Mr Kendall said the situation ‘irked’ farmers. “No-one else is anywhere near our 19 per cent modulation and they should certainly be looking to reduce the skimming off of farm payments,” he said.
He said the situation could also be improved if rural development funds were used to help farmers run their businesses more efficiently, rather than ‘wasted’ by RDAs.
A Defra spokeswoman said that by reducing the Government share of rural development funding, it was able to make savings for taxpayers without affecting the delivering of RDP schemes.
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Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 21 April 2010 8:51 am
Having just applied for RDPE funding for our farm diversification into local meat sales I conclude that this funding is entirely innaccessible to farmers. Having spent months traversing through all the forms and guidance and producing a 30 page business plan I now realise that the time would have been much better spent dealing with more pressing matters on farm. the fourpage feedback criticised the marketing, market research, cash-flow forecasts .....and so on....Come on RDPE we are a husband and wife team and are farmers not business analysts. Unless you are willing to pay thousands to consultants I would say don't bother, use your time to make a living rather than wasting it on jumping through hoops trying to get back some of our modulation monies.
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