EU sugar reforms will destroy industry - IFA

EU proposals for the reforming the sugar industry will destroy the viability of sugar beet growing in Ireland and put near 4,000 growers out of business, Irish Farmers Association (IFA) claimed today.

In an address to the EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel at the Irish Farm Centre, IFA president John Dillon accused the Commission of attempting to shut down the sugar industry in some peripheral member states.

Mr Dillon vowed his organisation would fight for the survival of profitable beet growing in Ireland.

He said if the EU farm council persisted with the proposal then "a fair and balanced agreement must compensate growers directly for the loss of their livelihoods, and the EU must support viable alternative land use for Irish tillage farmers."

"It would be totally unacceptable that investors and owners are compensated for shutting down sugar factories, while beet growers are put out of business without compensation for the investments they have made on their farms," he said.

The Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan today met with Ms Fischer Boel to discuss the proposed reforms.

Ms Coughlan said the EU proposals were not acceptable in their present form.

Earlier she said she would be raising her "serious concerns" with Ms Fischer Boel and would oppose the proposals when they came before the Council of Ministers.

Ms Coughlan said her opposition to the plans was shared by a number of member states, as well as by developing countries that had preferential access to the EU market.

But Ms Fischer Boel said there was no alternative to profound reform in the sugar beet industry. "I am convinced that EU sugar producers have a competitive future, but only if we act now and act decisively to prepare them for the challenges ahead," she said.

"We are offering a long term, stable planning horizon with a generous restructuring fund to encourage less competitive producers to leave the sector and to cope with the social and environmental impacts of the restructuring process."

The commissioner also said the EU would maintain preferences for traditional suppliers from the developing world.