Dáil debates

Thursday, 29 March 2018

Topical Issue Debate

Fodder Crisis

6:25 pm

Photo of Jackie CahillJackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There must be recognition that there is a crisis. It has been caused by a very wet autumn and an extremely late spring. In some parts of the country, fodder was going to be scarce even if we had an early spring. The situation has become seriously exacerbated. There is a welfare issue on farms at present. The farming press carried its main story on that last Tuesday. It is going to be become more serious as April progresses, with a serious lack of food out there for our animals.

There is also the mental strain that farmers are under. Both financially and mentally, farmers are drained after this extremely long winter. They have not got the cash to purchase feedstuffs and even if they had, feed is extremely scarce. It is not hindsight to say that we told the Minister that the transport subsidy was the wrong way to go. At the time, we strongly pushed for a concentrate subsidy. All we did was move fodder from one part of the country to another without extending the supply. We are now in a position where fodder is just not there and concentrates will have to be used. Concentrates are going up very substantially in price even as we speak. I saw a quotation from a miller today to the effect that, from 1 April, the price charged will increase by €25 per ton.

The Minister is being quoted in respect of comments he made at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on Tuesday. Some farmers have intensified, on the advice of State agencies, and are carrying a lot of extra stock. They are under extreme pressure and their yard infrastructure may not include the accommodation needed in respect of the late spring we are having. Leaving that aside, we have to play the cards we are dealt. Farmers urgently want help. The help the Minister has to provide is a concentrate subsidy. Men have not got the means to purchase the concentrates and the roughage is just not available.

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