NORTHERN IRELAND made advance CAP payments to 94% of its farmers in October – the only region of the United Kingdom to issue advance payments in this way.
Totalling £182.7million, the payments went out to 22,493 farm businesses, an increase of 1382 on last year.
NI's Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs claimed that the quicker payments had been made possible by the majority of farmers submitting their Single Application online – no less than 99% applied online this year.
DAERA added that claims made online were faster, more secure and more accurate. It added that advance payments could only be made on fully verified claims and that it had successfully obtained permission from the European Commission to make advance payments at 70% of claim value, rather than 50%.
The department made a particular effort to issue advance payments to businesses affected by the flooding of August 22 and 23 this year, with 92% of the affected businesses receiving payment.
Balance payments, or full payments for those unable to receive an advance payment, will be made from December 1, 2017.
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