John Carty (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food her views on the level of investment taking place in the horticulture sector here. [34108/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The level of investment taking place in the horticulture sector is now at a very high level and indicates a high degree of confidence in the sector. One of the major catalysts for this investment are the grant aid schemes operated by my Department for the development of the sector. Over the past year the level of funding has been increased considerably.

Under the scheme of investment for the commercial horticulture sector more than €6 million grant aid will be paid out this year to 129 growers, involving investments of €20 million, bringing the total grant payable to date under the programme — NDP 2000-2006 — to €14 million. This scheme is primarily aimed at growers engaged in horticultural production or are planning to start new horticultural projects. The scheme has made an immense contribution to the growth and development of the horticulture sector across all areas — mushrooms, field vegetables, protected crops, nursery stock and soft fruit — through investments in specialised facilities and equipment aimed at efficiently producing high quality products for a very discerning and highly competitive market.

Grant aid is also available under my Department's capital investment scheme for the marketing and processing of agricultural products. Proposals are invited periodically and are evaluated on a competitive basis. In the period of the NDP to date, grant aid totalling €5.2 million has been awarded to 20 such projects in the horticulture sector. A call for horticulture proposals in 2005 has attracted applications for grant aid towards investments of more than €25 million for development of facilities and improvement of the marketing infrastructure. The applications are currently being evaluated.

In addition to the NDP schemes, financial assistance is available under the EU producer organisation scheme for fruit and vegetables towards the cost of implementation of approved operational programmes. A key requirement of this scheme is that members of producer organisations must undertake to market all of their production through the organisation. A total of €5.6 million was paid out this year to ten producer organisations in respect of operational programmes for 2004.