Rural Aid extending its reach in pandemic

RURAL Aid delivered $31m in assistance to farmers during the past 12 months.

The charity released its second-quarter snapshot on Tuesday with the numbers showing $7.7m was distributed in the three months to June including 17,000 hay bales and 2.66 million litres of drinking water.

Rural Aid chief executive John Warlters said ensuring support to farmers was more important than ever as they faced the twin challenges of natural disasters and the pandemic.

“During these uncertain times we’ve continued to ensure assistance reached drought, fire, flood and now COVID-19 affected farmers,’” he said.

“In the last quarter Rural Aid delivered bales worth over $4.7m to 1110 drought and fireaffected farmers and that equates to over 85 farmers per week receiving 1310 bales.

“We delivered close to $62,000 worth of domestic drinking water to 140 farmers.

“Over $2.2m in financial and prepaid Visa card assistance was distributed to 2378 farmers with many spending in their communities (to support) local economies.

“Our counsellors supported 1612 farmers and conducted 330 counselling sessions.”

COVID-19 planning was undertaken to ensure the charity continued meeting the needs of primary producers and regional communities.

“We’ve seen a greater need for services than ever before,” Mr Warlters said.

“COVID-19 restrictions have impacted the way Rural Aid deliver some programs and initiatives but our focus has been on getting prompt assistance to farmers no matter the circumstance.”