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The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan T.D.,
has called on more farmers to consider diversifying into energy
crops - but acknowledged that the current EU Energy Crop Scheme
payment of €45 per hectare is not sufficient.
Minister Coughlan also revealed that, to-date, there had
only been 250 applications made to her Department for the
energy crop payment in 2006. The Minister said that, to be
successful in developing the sector, more encouraging signals
must be sent to farmers. In that context, the Government are
currently drafting the National Bio-Energy Strategy.
Due for completion by the end of 2006, the main objective
is to maximise the contribution of indigenous bio-energy across
the agriculture, enterprise, transport and energy sectors.
It will establish a firm road map to exploit the potential
of bio-energy resources, quantify opportunities and benefits
and introduce policy support measures.
“Farmers have shown that they are interested in this area
- but it is equally clear that farmers will require an adequate
return if this interest is to be translated into action. At
present, production of energy crops in Ireland is relatively
small as, currently, the economics of energy crops are marginal
compared to conventional crop tillage. As this is still a
relatively new field and requires adaptations in farming systems,
incentives must be made available to encourage farmers to
grow more energy crops."
Highlighting the priority being given by the Government
to renewable energy, Minister Coughlan said that the farmers
would have an important role to play - given that agriculture
and forestry are the sources of most of the raw materials
for bio-energy. As a result, the Minister said that further
development of the bio-energy sector presented an exciting
new opportunity for farmers and rural communities.
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