The €53 million Dairy Equipment and the Rainwater Harvesting Schemes that will open for applications on Tuesday, March 1, will help reduce water costs on Mayo farms, according to Mayo Fine Gael General Election candidate, Cllr Michelle Mulherin.
Cllr Mulherin has being an advocate of rainwater harvesting and identified the need for government assistance and promotion of the idea.
“The new schemes are a means for hard-pressed farmers of moving away from using expensive treated water for farming which has only been getting more and more expensive under the Government's Polluter Pays Policy,” said Cllr Mulherin.
Cllr Mulherin urged farmers who currently have a high level of water usage on their farms to examine closely the options for grant-aid which will be available under the Scheme.
Both schemes are provided for in Ireland’s Rural Development Programme and are intended to remain open for applications until end 2013.
Under the terms of the programme, €45 million is being made available for the Dairy Equipment Scheme with a further €8 million being provided for the Rainwater Harvesting Scheme.
The schemes are part of a €113 million targeted scheme for on-farm investment to support a number of specific categories of farmers and focused on supporting productive investment. Under the terms of the Rural Development Programme, the Dairy
Equipment Scheme will provide grant-aid for milking machine equipment and milk storage and cooling equipment, at a standard grant-rate of 40 per cent up to a maximum grant level.
The €8 million Rainwater Harvesting Scheme will also provide grant-aid at a standard grant rate of 40 per cent up to a maximum grant level for the installation of rainwater collection tanks and ancillary items.
Under the terms of both schemes, selection criteria will be applied in order to determine those applications which will proceed to the approval stage. Farmers are advised that it was a standard condition of all on-farm investment schemes that only work which commences after the date of issue of written approval by his Department is eligible for grant-aid.
Applications for both schemes will be available of the Department’s website at www.agriculture.gov.ie from March 1 2011.
