Urgent need for more Teagasc advisors in Mayo
DEPUTY Michael Ring has called on Teagasc to provide the necessary resources in order to employ more Teagasc advisors in Mayo.
He said he was acutely aware through his continuous contact with farmers of the lack of Teagasc advisors in Mayo (Westport, Claremorris, Ballina and Ballinrobe offices).
“I have been contacted by a number of people who have not been able to obtain the services of a Teagasc advisor. I understand that Teagasc offices in Mayo are turning away farmers because they do not have the resources to provide a service to these farmers,” he said.
Deputy Ring continued: “Obviously, this is a very serious situation given the complexity of farming schemes and the new schemes which have come onboard and are coming onboard. Every assistance should be given to farmers. They are the backbone of our rural communities.
“The Mayo Teagasc offices urgently require more resources if they are to continue to service all the farmers in Mayo that are looking for help.”
Deputy Ring said he had raised the issue with Teagasc directly. “Teagasc informed me that they have 4,602 clients in Mayo, served from four offices in Ballina, Ballinrobe, Claremorris and Westport. They also have an advisory clinic in Swinford and Belmullet from which three advisors meet clients. Teagasc currently have 23.3 advisors (full-time equivalents) in the Mayo region across dairy, dry stock, soils, water quality and education roles,” he said.
“Teagasc stated that the allocation of advisors to different roles within the region is under ongoing review based on workload needs across enterprises and across the region.
“The ACRES scheme in 2022 was an example of where a large increase in workload was met by additional resources, thanks to sanction received from the Department of Agriculture for temporary staff allocations. They stated that in this case a total of nine additional staff were appointed to Mayo for the application period for this scheme.
“I stressed the urgent need for more resources to be allocated to the Mayo Teagasc service.
“They did say that Teagasc are currently in the process of appointing an additional advisor to Mayo on a permanent basis, associated with the increasing demands on advisors for supporting farmers around climate and sustainability actions on farms, and that Teagasc are also currently reviewing with the Department of Agriculture the additional temporary staffing resources that will be required to support the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-27 cycle of schemes, within which the Mayo region will continue to feature strongly regarding advisory staff allocations owing to the high participation rates of farmers in the region in the ACRES and other beef, sheep and agri-environmental schemes.”
Added Deputy Ring: “I appreciate that Teagasc are aware of the pressures on their Mayo offices but it is imperative that they do everything they can to increase staffing levels at these locations. I will continue to highlight this issue.”