WASHINGTON – Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman has approved Maine’s request for federal disaster assistance to offset the losses caused by the ongoing drought, U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins announced Monday. The entire state will be eligible for disaster assistance under the designation, the senators said.

“Maine has suffered the effects of a drought that has saddled our state with below-normal precipitation for nearly two years now, so this federal assistance is welcome to help farmers weather this difficult period,” said Snowe and Collins in a joint release.

The disaster designation, authorized under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, designates all of Maine’s 16 counties as primary natural disaster areas, for the period beginning Jan. 1, 2002, and continuing. Franklin County was omitted from a similar designation issued last year, causing serious hardship for dairy farmers and others in western Maine.

The designation makes farm operators eligible to be considered for low-interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency, within designated eligibility requirements. Each loan application will be examined on its merits to take into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability, according to Veneman.

The USDA emergency loans permit farmers to borrow up to $500,000 at a low, 3.75 percent interest rate, with repayment over a period of up to seven years.