Payments under a €7 million emergency fund for pig farmers will be rolled out in "the next week or two", according to the president of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA).

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue today (Tuesday, February 22) confirmed that the Cabinet had given approval for the support package.

It will be distributed through a flat rate payment up to €20,000 for each commercial pig farmer sending over 200 animals to slaughter annually.

The move comes as the sector, which employs 8,000 people, faces an unprecedented financial crisis through a combination of high input costs and low pigmeat prices.

“This is an urgent, short-term response to assist producers that would be viable but for the extreme current circumstances and allow space for a more medium-term adjustment to market signals," the minister explained.

The IFA president, Tim Cullinan, who is a pig farmer himself, told Agriland that the €7 million in direct aid will "somewhat help pig farmers".

However, he outlined that concerns remain about how long this "severe crisis" will continue and what it will take to get farmers out of it.

"We've not seen a situation for many years where you have an extraordinary increase in the cost of feed and energy as the price the farmer receives for the pigs is going in the wrong direction," Cullinan stated.

The IFA president said that it is important that the payments are deployed quickly and without excessive bureaucracy.

"This is a critical time and that funding is absolutely needed to help farmers and to pay for feed that's been delivered onto farms," he added.

Cullinan remarked that the direct aid is the start of the process to help pig farmers but medium and long-term solutions must also be looked at.

The IFA president said that below-cost selling will need to be regulated and the price of food at retail level will have to increase to compensate farmers for the "massive" jump in input cost.

Meanwhile, IFA National Pig Committee chair Roy Gallie explained that producers are currently losing between €35 and €40/pig and called for the money to be paid as a matter of urgency.