The vulnerability of Northern Ireland’s (NI) sheep sector has become a concern to the UK’s National Sheep Association (NSA). This comes as NSA has expressed disappointment at the lack of support thereof. According to the organisation, it is dismayed by the disregard shown in a recent announcement by Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister, Edwin Poots.
The lack of proposals to incentivise productivity in breeding ewes being brought forward has been questioned by NSA. It says that the exclusion of this is of particular importance, due to productivity efficiency in reducing carbon footprints.
NSA Northern Ireland development officer Edward Adamson says “a population of more than 968,000 breeding ewes on Northern Ireland farms support rural businesses, communities, biodiversity and the landscape iconic to Ireland.” The association has highlighted that ignoring the value of the sector is short-sighted.
The NSA says supporting one sector in favour of another has the potential to distort the marketplace.
Adamson claims “the decision also has the potential to damage the Northern Ireland Wool market. It is hard to understand why sheep have not been treated on an equivalent per hectare basis as beef cattle.”
NSA chief executive Phil Stocker says this will have “far-reaching consequences” within the sector. The NSA says that it is encouraging DEARA to re-look its decision and extend tailored support to the sheep sector.
The NSA’s response comes after Minister Poots announced the 54 policy decisions on Future Agricultural Policy for Northern Ireland last week, one of which, says that there are no proposals, at this stage, to support the sheep sector. However, the policy noted that work will be undertaken to explore options for support that will improve the overall performance and resilience of the sheep sector.