Haskins unveils rural recovery plan
18 October 2001
Haskins unveils rural recovery plan
By FWi staff
LORD HASKINS has recommended that the government sets up a 40 million fund to help the countryside recover from foot-and-mouth.
The recommendation is made in the Labour peers long-awaited proposals for a rural recovery which were published on Thursday (18 October).
Foot-and-mouth movement restrictions should be relaxed so that farmers can move stock in and out of high-risk counties like Cumbria, the report says.
The government should fund a scheme to get feed on to farms in crisis-hit areas such as Cumbria, it adds. Farmers should receive free business advice.
The report also recommends that ministers do more to get European Union aid to businesses which were affected by foot-and-mouth in the farm supply chain.
It calls for the introduction of more flexibility with regard to rural planning and urges ministers to “go slow” on future farm regulation.
Government help is more likely to be forthcoming if rural businesses and groups make more effort to help themselves by working together, the report says.
A number of livestock markets will close, the document predicts. Farmers must be more disciplined if they want to ensure the survival of the remaining auctions.
“Playing the markets by taking a few animals from one market to the next must end,” Lord Haskins told FARMERS WEEKLY.
The government should reduce excess sheep numbers by introducing a one-off scheme to buy sheep quota from farmers to reduce the national flock.
“The aim is to cut out overstocking because there are far too many sheep. Nobody can sell them – its a shambles,” Lord Haskins said.
The countryside should be completely re-opened after Christmas regardless of the foot-and-mouth situation in a bid to boost non-farming rural businesses.