Mohammad Asghar, Regional Assembly Member for South Wales East, says that the Welsh Assembly Government must do everything possible to support farmers who have expressed concerns regarding the compulsory electronic identification of sheep.
New European regulations, which came into place on December 31st 2009, require all sheep to be individually recorded with electronic identification (EID).
Speaking in the Senedd on Wednesday, he said: “Many farmers are still deeply concerned about the inaccuracy of this technology and fear that the individual recording of sheep under such a system could lead to their being penalised for cross-compliance breaches”.
Mr Asghar asked the Minister to confirm that she was doing “everything possible to support farmers by lobbying the European Commission to ensure that Welsh farmers are not penalised because of the shortcomings of EID”.
Brynle Williams AM, Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs, added: “It is not acceptable for Welsh farmers to be penalised for the inadequacies of this technology. The Minister must do her utmost to protect the agricultural industry from the damaging impact of these regulations”.
