The chairperson of the Rural Development Council believes greater emphasis must be placed on ensuring equity between rural and urban life in Northern Ireland.

Chairperson Joanna McVey was speaking at the launch of the RDC's annual report in Cookstown, County Tyrone.

She told the assembly that fighting disadvantage in rural areas in Northern Ireland was as relevant today as it was 10 years ago.

She said: "Rural Northern Ireland has been starved of investment and it is the responsibility of the new government to make sure its policies and their effects do not discriminate against peripheral areas.

"The main message of today is that we now need to enter the next stage of the rural development programme in Northern Ireland.

"The social, economic and environmental benefits created by those responsible for rural development are now a lot clearer."

Rural development partners

She said that rural development was now recognised as a partner to agriculture and farming, as the title of minister Brid Rodgers' portfolio demonstrated.

"All those concerned with the maintenance of a healthy rural society must endeavour to work with, and not independent of, each other."

The RDC also published a review of its work over the last four years.