Northern Ireland farmers saw a 64 per cent increase in their incomes last year, it was revealed today - but they are still living below to the poverty line.
The average income per farm increased from £3,800 sterling to £5,800 and is projected to go up again this year to £7,000.
But the returns are tiny compared with the national minimum wage. The British government-set minimum of £4.10 an hour provides an annual income of £8,528 for a 40-hour week. The farm income equates to just £2.79 an hour for the same number of hours.
The huge percentage increase in Northern Ireland compared with just 13 per cent for the UK as a whole.
The Department of Agriculture in Belfast said the much shorter and less severe outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was a "significant contributory factor".
It required many fewer animals to be culled and also enabled exports to be resumed and high prices to be achieved during the period when British products were unavailable.
Stormont Agriculture Minister Mrs Bríd Rodgers said the significant rise in agricultural income was "a very welcome respite from the serious difficulties faced by the agricultural industry in Northern Ireland in recent years".
Mrs Rodgers said: "This is the first substantial improvement in income since 1995 and restores income to the levels experienced in the early 1990s".
But she warned there was no room for complacency - current market indicators in some sectors were not encouraging and agrimoney compensation was coming to an end.
PA