Income Support For Hawke's Bay Farmers

Agriculture Minister Lockwood Smith is to seek income support for Hawke's Bay farmers and horticulturalists at Cabinet on 20 April.

This will be the first Cabinet meeting since he received the request for assistance on Monday.

Cabinet approval is required for the activation of the special income support programme, the Rural Sector Assistance Programme.

Dr Smith has received the permission of Prime Minister Jenny Shipley to bypass the normal cabinet committee process.

The income support would be worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars.