Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has announced rural assistance payments are now available to help Northland farmers and growers affected by drought. Photo / File
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has announced rural assistance payments are now available to help Northland farmers and growers affected by drought. Photo / File
Northland farmers and growers affected by the drought now have access to rural assistance payments to help ease financial pressures.
Up to $500,000 has been made available for farmers and growers in the region along with those in parts of the Auckland region.
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni made the announcement on March 1.
"We want farmers and growers to know they can ask for help and there may be support available to them," she said.
"I urge people struggling as a result of the drought to contact Work and Income to see what they might be eligible for."
The payments are equal to Jobseeker support and follow an $80,000 support package announced on February 11 when Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor declared a medium-scale adverse weather event for areas north of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
That funding is to help the Northland Rural Support Trust to facilitate recovery, run events to help get farmers off-farm and reduce isolation, provide education and technical advice for farmers, and provide one-to-one care as needed.
Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor talking drought with Tangiteroria dairy farmer Scott Taylor on a visit to the region in January. Photo / John Stone
Northland Rural Support Trust co-ordinator Julie Jonker said she's had a few farmers contact the trust so far, but most were handling the drought "as well as they can" and had planning in place.
She welcomed the rural assistance payments and encouraged people to enquire if they weren't sure whether they could apply.
"This will help farmers unable to meet their daily needs and who have no off-farm income, no assets they can quickly liquidate and are on no other government benefits," Jonker said.
"It's a good thing for those who are really struggling to meet those basic needs. This drought is starting to bite."
Sepuloni said the trust has been doing great work in the region.
"We'll be working closely with them to get support to those who need it.
Dry conditions in Northland are starting to bite. Photo / John Stone
"We also recognise that even with some rainfall, droughts can be slow to recover from, and that the effects will be felt longer term."
Far North Organic Growers and Producers Society chairman Rich Van Alphen – who owns a certified organic 4ha cherimoya orchard in Houhora - said the impacts of the drought won't be known "till down the line further".
This could mean less produce because of the ongoing dry conditions, he said.
"Our trees are only just flowering and setting fruit, so we might know not know the impact of the drought for another five to six months. My production might only be half of what it normally is.
"No doubt it'll impact us, and some farmers, but a lot of the farmers up here have seen this drought coming and made arrangements with their hay and silage. It's nothing new for them up here."
The dry conditions are affecting other places in the upper North Island.
On February 28, O'Connor extended the drought classification to include the rest of Auckland and Waikato.
Phone Winz on 0800 559 009 or the Rural Support Trust on 0800 787 254 for more information.
