THE first payments to farmers in Northern Ireland under an EU scheme to compensate them for low milk prices have been paid.
The £3.6 million initiative was announced in September and was met with criticism from some farmers as being "too little, too late".
Milk farmers have been protesting for some months claiming the cost of production was outweighing farm gate prices.
Stormont agriculture minister Michelle O'Neill said payments from the EU Dairy Fund began yesterday.
"Tackling the plight of our dairy farmers, who have been experiencing a prolonged period of severely depressed prices as a result of the global dairy crisis, remains a priority for me," she said.
"I have made significant efforts to impress upon my counterparts in Britain, Dublin and Brussels the need for a swift and effective response from the EU Commission and for recognition of the extreme impact of the crisis on our farmers here."
Around one fifth of the overall package for the UK is going to Northern Ireland based farmers.
Around £3.6million is due to be paid immediately to 2,250 farmers in the north.
Mrs O'Neill said the payments "will go some way towards easing the immediate cashflow concerns of our farmers".
"I will continue to explore every avenue to support our farmers at this challenging time, and fully intend to keep up the pressure on Phil Hogan to review an increase to intervention prices to provide a greater safety net for farmers and to assist the market to stabilise," she added.
Meanwhile, farmers from across Northern Ireland joined in a European-wide day of protest last Thursday called by the European Milk Board (EMB).
A spokesman for Farmers For Action (FFA) in the north said: "EMB have the solutions for Brussels. These solutions so far are falling on deaf ears therefore pressure from EMB and all of those farm organisations across the EU including FFA who support their solutions will back whatever pressure it takes in the coming weeks and months to overcome the current large EU corporate food retailers and food wholesalers influence in Brussels (and Westminster) stance.
"Meanwhile, FFA along with Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers Association (NIAPA) are pressing ahead with their proposal for legislation on farm gate prices across the staples for Northern Ireland, returning a minimum of the cost of production plus a margin inflation linked this would set a farm income safety net in law for Northern Ireland farmers."
