North Island flood relief to cost $40m

The Government has paid out $34 million in flood relief claims to North Island farmers and expects to pay a further $6 million before the Agriculture Recovery Programme is completed.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) administers the programme, set up after the 2004 February floods in the southern North Island.

Agriculture Recovery Programme manager Jeremy Neild said the cut-off for applications was September 30, with around 250-300 claims arriving during the final week.

Some of those claims came from people who made earlier requests for payment and some were new claimants, he said.

Farmers had to have repair work completed and provide MAF with proof of payment before they could make a claim, Mr Neild said.

"The top 10 individual cases are farmers who have been paid over $400,000 and they were a mixture of large farms, arable farmers and some who have had to have bridges replaced," he said.

Five hundred and sixty farmers have already been paid and MAF expects the final number to be around 660.

"Most of those have been from Manawatu, but we have had claims from farmers in Wanganui, Rangitikei, southern Ruapehu and Taranaki, as well as Hawke's Bay to Wairarapa," he said.

- nzpa