The First and deputy First Ministers have launched a new action plan for Northern Ireland's Agri-Food industry.

The announcement was made at the Balmoral Show – Ireland's largest agricultural event.

The Strategic Action Plan includes more than 100 recommendations aimed at accelerating the growth of farming, fishing and food and drink processing in Northern Ireland.

First Minister Peter Robinson said: "Agri-Food has immense potential to contribute to economic recovery and longer term prosperity in Northern Ireland. The Agri-Food Strategy Board has identified a wide range of challenging recommendations, which could lead to much needed additional employment for around 15,000 people.

"The Executive has recognised the industry’s tremendous potential in the Programme for Government and Economic Strategy and has supported the Board in its work to develop this Strategic Action Plan. We must now consider the recommendations within the report to see how best we can support the industry’s development."

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness added: "Agri-Food is already a successful industry that has continued to grow steadily during the recession and is positioned to provide greater benefits across rural and urban communities.

"The development of the Board’s Strategic Action Plan has involved extensive engagement with the primary, processing and retail sectors, as well as other relevant stakeholders in order to maximise the sales and employment potential of Agri-Food. A key role for the Executive will be to work in partnership with industry to deliver on its growth aspirations."

Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill attended the launch. She said the Plan's recommendation of a single and fully integrated supply chain makes "sound sense for both primary producers and processors."

Ms O'Neill also revealed the Plan could lead to the creation of 15,000 jobs.

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster added: "Among the many strengths of the Plan is a set of targets that reflect the Agri-Food industry’s ambitions for increased sales, especially outside Northern Ireland, as well as a significant rise in employment across Northern Ireland and an overall contribution to wealth creation and prosperity."

Alliance Agriculture spokesperson Kieran McCarthy welcomed the news.

"We have had a great tradition of a vibrant agri-food sector in Northern Ireland," he said.

"This strategy is something that we called for in our last manifesto and we also submitted a motion in the Assembly last September calling for such a strategy. Other neighbouring regions are ahead of us in implementing such a strategy and they have already seen the resulting benefits.

"The link up with the business sector will help improve the thinking of those in the agri-food sector who have great ideas but do not know how to turn them into successful business enterprises."

(IT/MH)