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Source: ONE News
The farming community will find out in six months how much a new government scheme to keep tabs on animals will cost.
Federated Farmers has expressed its concerns with the NAIT (National Animal Identification and Tracing) scheme, saying it will mean more compliance costs.
Minister of Agriculture David Carter says work on a cost-benefit analysis of the scheme is due to be completed by June.
He says by then a decision will be made on what share of the cost will be borne by the taxpayer, and how much will be passed on to farmers.
Nevertheless, Carter says New Zealand needs to move with the scheme, as export customers overseas are demanding a more rigorous tracing system for animals.
He says there are also concerns about New Zealand's ability to respond to any major biosecurity issue.
Carter says the last thing the Government wants is to impose unnecessary compliance costs on farmers, and that he believes there has been scaremongering over the scheme. He believes NAIT will "future-proof" NZ's future primary sector prosperity, and that Federated Farmers must engage constructively.
The NAIT scheme would involve electronic tracking of all animal movement between farms with hand-held scanners. The results would be held in one massive database. Exporters have come out backing the scheme, while Federated Farmers assert it will make little difference to foreign market demand, even if we have a biosecurity scare.
