By Ewan Pate, farming editor

NFU SCOTLAND president Jim McLaren has received confirmation in a phone call from Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochead that Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) payments will be issued in January.

This will come as a considerable relief to hill farmers, who have had to endure weeks of uncertainty as to when the £61 million package would be paid.

LFASS is an integral part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme, which has still to be agreed in Brussels.

It was expected to be rubber stamped this month but bureaucratic delays meant that the earliest approval date had become January, with LFASS payments unlikely until February at the earliest.

However, Mr Lochhead has confirmed that following his discussions directly with EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel in Brussels yesterday payments can proceed.

There has been a degree of finger pointing as to who has been responsible for the delay, but yesterday Mr McLaren was keen to stress that the SRDP plans, including LFASS had been lodged in Brussels in adequate time for a meeting due to be held today, but that they had “lain on someone’s desk for too long.”

Mr McLaren said, “The cabinet secretary phoned me this morning and confirmed that following his talks in Brussels, the green light has effectively been given to issue LFA payments in January.

“We have been in contact with his department on a daily basis stressing the importance of these payments to hill farmers and I am grateful for his direct intervention in Brussels to ensure this vital support can be paid.

“LFA support has always been a lifeline payment, but it has an even greater significance this year given the financial crisis faced by many farms as a direct result of the foot-and- mouth restrictions in the autumn.”