Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus has added his voice to the chorus of concern over a "growing crisis" in the pig sector.

He said that in recent months, the profitability of the sector has plummeted with Irish pigmeat farmers seeing no end in sight. 

MacManus, who is a member of the European Parliament Agricultural Committee, commented:

“Pigmeat prices are falling across the EU due to an oversupply on the market. E.g. in Belgium, the seat of the European Parliament, prices have dropped 65%.

"Meanwhile, production has stayed high in the EU. Bord Bia’s data illustrates that in 2020, pigmeat prices were at €1.69 and are now floating around €1.43, a decline of 14%," the MEP added.

In terms of the feed costs, MacManus has stated that this is also linked to the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Due to the nature of the pandemic, we cannot pinpoint when the market may change, which would allow us to judge whether our vulnerable farmers can hang on."

The MEP has co-signed a letter to the EU Agricultural Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski calling on him to consider releasing direct support to farmers from margins within the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget.

MacManus has also outlined what he believes are some possible solutions to the crisis.

“In the long-term, we need to continually work on managing supply and demand, but it should not involve allowing the most vulnerable section of producers to go under during times of disruption," he said.

“I would like to see more cooperation with our indigenous tillage sector. We should be promoting more native grains in livestock rations, especially when our tillage farmers are working so hard to produce them using a low carbon emissions model," the MEP concluded.