MAD cow disease is the biggest crisis to affect the North's agriculture industry since partition, and represents a long term problem for the industry, according to a review by Coopers & Lybrand.
The survey found the overwhelming majority of executives in Northern Ireland's agribusiness companies said the British government was responsible for the BSE crisis as it affects the North and should accept responsibility for solving it.
Some 97 per cent of companies said business had been affected by the BSE scare, with 70 per cent reporting a reduction in demand and almost one fifth admitting cash flow problems. On average, the survey says, companies experienced a fall of over 22 per cent in the value of orders over the past 12 months.
Falling sales in turn produced job layoffs, with 23 per cent of firms reporting job losses in 1996. A further 7 per cent expected more employees to be laid off.
Although a majority believed that the worst was probably over for their own business, three quarters said that BSE would continue to damage trading activities during 1997.
"Despite the extensive publicity given to the plight of the processing sector, farmers and hauliers were believed to have been worst hit. Just under 60 per cent said farmers had suffered most, with 21 per cent believing that the haulage sector had been worst affected," the survey says.
A continuation of the export ban for another year would force the closure of 8 per cent of the firms surveyed. A majority of those questioned said another year of the ban would mean more cutbacks and further job losses.
A quarter of all the businesses surveyed said they expected difficulties with creditors or their banks if the ban continues.
