Michael Harty (Clare, Independent)
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69. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in view of the Food Wise 2025 targets set for agriculture in the programme for partnership Government and his views on whether these targets are realisable unless urgent remedial action is taken to alleviate the current farming income crisis. [19092/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The agrifood commitments in the Programme for a Partnership Government align closely with Food Wise 2025. My Department has 65 detailed commitments in the Programme for Partnership. The Food Wise strategy for the sector contains detailed recommendations aimed at improving value added and productivity at farm and food industry level through a focus on sustainability, efficiency, knowledge transfer and innovation. If these recommendations are implemented, the expert committee which drew up the Food Wise 2025 Strategy believes that the growth projections are achievable by 2025. Realising these growth projections will be challenging, but I am confident that they can be achieved.

I know that 2016 has been challenging for many farmers. As a small open economy which exports the vast bulk of its food produce, Ireland will always feel the effects of volatility on world markets. However, there are measures in place to help Irish farmers through these periods. Indeed one of the priorities under the Programme for Government is to develop an effective response to price volatility, including through initiatives on access to finance and taxation. Many farmers could also benefit from a sharper focus on financial management, and I was pleased to see the recent ‘Financial Management Initiative’ from the Dairy Forum, providing straightforward advice on cashflow planning, which I hope will be of very practical assistance to dairy farmers.

I have met representatives from SBCI and ISIF in relation to both access to credit and the cost of credit for farmers and SMEs.I have also met with the CEOs of AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank.One of my priorities under the Programme for Government will be to support the provision of lower cost and more flexible finance for the sector, and I have conveyed that message strongly to all of the banking institutions.