IFA Rural Development Chairman Tom Turley said he was angry at the comment by the Minister for Food and Horticulture.
He said the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme provides essential support to farmers in marginal land areas, especially in the west of the country.
Mr Turley said the Government has attacked the livelihoods of over 35,000 of these low-income farmers and cut their support by up to 25%, which totals €34m.
He said this is a direct attack on the viability of low-income farmers, who play a vital role in sustaining farming in very difficult and peripheral land.
Their enterprises are mainly low-income livestock and sheep farmers, who depend greatly on the support of the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme.
Mr Turley said the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme supports over 100,000 farmers, who are recognised by the European Union as sustaining farming in an environmentally-friendly way in the most vulnerable regions of the country.
