This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Proposals to improve quality of crofters' cattle
17/05/2005
Lewis Macdonald today published proposals to improve the
quality of cattle produced by groups of crofters.
The Deputy Rural Development Minister announced a
consultation on the Crofters Cattle Quality Improvement Scheme
which will pay groups of crofters annual grants of up to £400
to enable them to develop a cattle improvement plan.
They will also be eligible for grants of up to 50 per cent
of the cost of buying or hiring bulls of the quality necessary
to achieve the planned improvements to their stock.
Further grants of up to 75 per cent of the cost of training
members of the group and grants of £5 per head on completion of
the plan are also available.
Mr Macdonald said:
"The Draft Crofting Reform Bill set out our proposals to
help protect and sustain the unique crofting way of life.
"This scheme can further help the financial viability of
crofting and the production of cattle in some of our most
remote communities.
"The proposed scheme will be linked to a beef quality
programme and will comply with EU State Aid regulations.
"It will substantially improve crofters' cattle and will
better meet the needs of the market and the Crofters Commission
objectives. I encourage all interested parties to make sure
their views are considered."
This proposed scheme will be a successor to the Bull Hire
Scheme.
Details of size of groups etc who will be eligible to apply
to the scheme.
The proposals are based on the fundamental principle of
grant support towards the hire or purchase of bulls,
conditional on production of clear and measurable improvement
plans. They were developed for SEERAD by the Rural Development
Company and are modelled on an existing scheme run by the
Departmennt of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern
Ireland.
The consultation period runs until 8 August 2005.