Half of Australia's farming land, and every other farming family, will receive government aid because harvests have been wiped out by the continent's worst-ever drought, SAID DPA. Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile told Parliament that 77,000 of the country's 130,000 farmers were now eligible for assistance to help them through a fifth year of drought. The government expects to have paid out over 2 billion Australian dollars (1.5 billion US dollars) in drought relief by the end of the year. The farm welfare programme began in 2001. Agriculture accounts for 12 per cent of gross domestic product, 22 per cent of visible exports, and underpins around 1.6 million jobs. Over half of production is exported, with Australia the biggest shipper of wool and the second-largest shipper of wheat. Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran denied the government was drip-feeding some farmers to keep them on land that was being turned into desert by climate change. "Eventually the farm debt and the loss of income catches up with farmers, so the idea that they're being cocooned from the realities of their business affected by climatic conditions is a nonsense," he said. The number of farming families has fallen by a quarter in the last 20 years, many of them selling out to bigger and more efficient operators. Treasurer Peter Costello said the rural sector was in recession with both farm production and income in retreat. "The drought is worse than was expected," Costello said. "The drought will detract from growth." He gave the example of the wheat crop, which this year is expected to weigh in at half of last year's 25 million tons.
