25 September 2007Asia-Pacific News / Deutsche Presse
Australia increased hand-outs to drought-stricken farmers Tuesday and said it would pay some of them to leave land robbed of its commercial value by climate change.
Around a fifth of Australia's 125,000 farmers have their backs against the wall and are receiving income support as the worst drought on record goes into its seventh year.
'These people are in a desperate situation and they are the heart and soul of our rural communities and we've got to help them,' Prime Minister John Howard said.
The extra 714 million Australian dollars (600 million US dollars) will be spent over the next two years and brings spending on drought assistance to 2.8 billion Australian dollars since 2001.
National Farmers Federation spokesman Ben Fargher said over half the country's arable land was now in drought and it was right for the government to offer packages to farmers to leave the land.
'We have moved out of a serious drought into a crisis in many regions around the country,' he said.
