Much of €50m allocated to AEOS will not be drawn down this year
This is due to the target of 10,000 participants not being met and the likelihood that not all of those qualifying will be eligible for the maximum âŹ5,000 payment, it said.
But the ICSA president Gabriel Gilmartin said the likely failure to meet participation and expenditure targets under the AEOS must not be seen as a reason to reduce environmental funding.
He said Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith must ensure that Finance Minister Brian Lenihan understands and supports the case for adequate agri-environment funding.
The Government should not judge the scheme based on 2010, he said, claiming it was unrealistic to introduce a hastily cobbled scheme at the last minute and expect farmers and planners to get to grips with it within weeks.
Mr Gilmartin said the reality is that the closure of the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) last summer was a major error. âWhile it was in the context of immense pressure from the Department of Finance to cut costs, it is now clear the replacement scheme could not be put in place in adequate time to allow farmers and advisers the opportunity to examine the scheme and prepare applications.
âThis does not mean the scheme wonât be successful in the future. However, the key is to ensure the Government gives the scheme a chance to bed in. This means it must be adequately funded in 2011 and 2012 to give all farmers exiting REPS 3 a chance to participate,â he said.
Irish Rural Link has claimed the payments scheme will push thousands of small farmers deeper into poverty.
Chief executive Seamus Boland told IRLâs annual conference in Killala, Co Mayo, the average farm income last year was just âŹ12,000 per farm, a third of the average industrial wage.
The reality is that REPS, which closed last year because of the departmentâs cutbacks, supplemented the low income of small farmers and small holders, he said.
Under the new AEOS, the maximum payment of âŹ5,000 is well under the funding available under the old REPS scheme and far more inaccessible.