Future for Taieri 'bleak’

Press, 14 June 1980, Page 11

Future for Taieri ' b l eak’

PA Dunedin In some ways the victims of the Taieri flood disaster are worse off than those at Abbot' ord or Mataura, because they have not only lost their homes and many personal possessions but their incomes, says the president of Otago Federated Farmers, Mr L. Anderson.

He said the outlook for 50 to 70 farmers from Taieri was bleak and unsure, with little prospect of getting farms back into full production for 18 months. Many of the residents were away from their homes with few possessions and from “a plain

humanitarian rehabilitation aspect” they deserved something better than interest-free loans from the Rural Bank. Mr Anderson said the announcement of Rural Bank loans for farmers was not really special assistance, but simply in line with the ordinary regulations now covering adverse climatic events. “It is not an ordinary situation,” he said.

Nearly all of the area under water would have to be regrassed, but because of colder weather and the waterlogged ground this work was unlikelv to be possible until October. It would be mid-Novem-ber before the re-grassed

areas were fit for grazing by cattle. 'The affected farmers would face seed bills of S2O to $25 a hectare. tage of anything from $590 a head to $16.50 a head or more for bringing cattie back from gra ' • areas as widespread as Hindon and Southland, replacement of electric pumps and motors, and the loss of most hay and standing crops, such as chou moelher. Federated Farmers has asked the Minister of Agriculture (Mr MacIntvrel for special consideration of the Taieri farmers’ needs. It considers that farmers without income should get $lOO a week for 16

weeks, in lieu of an unemployment benefit and $5O a milking cow in the form of a subsidv to cover transport and re-grassing costs. Mr Anderson said he knew from experience that many dairy farmers were reluctant to borrow more money. Manv were on the farms as traditional stepping stone units to get started and were young farmers who did not want more debt. Even if conditions allowed milking cows to return to the properties, farmers would face the expense of buying in hay to carry them over until the re-grassing became effective.