Action by agricultural officers may hit farmers

Farmers are facing a delay in their grant payments and disruption to product exports due to an industrial relations dispute between the Department of Agriculture and its officials.

More than 600 technical agricultural officers at the department will start industrial action next Monday. Trade union Impact, which represents the staff, said the protest has been triggered by the department’s refusal to give its members a chance to compete for assistant principal posts.

It said that refusal “is in defiance of a new, civil service-wide policy that allows all qualified staff to apply for vacancies that have been approved for filling”.