Veterinarians have welcomed the National Party's plan to combat rural veterinary shortages with a voluntary scheme of bonds for rural veterinarians.

"The proposals will greatly assist the severe shortage of veterinarians in rural areas," said Veterinary Association (NZVA) chief executive, Julie Hood.

"This is a serious issue, not only for the profession, but for the viability of our agricultural exports, the welfare of our animals and our biosecurity surveillance systems."

Rural vets provide the nation's farming and biosecurity sectors with highly skilled eyes and ears constantly on the lookout for exotic disease outbreaks -- at no cost to taxpayers.

The National Party rural spokesman David Carter released his party's agriculture policy today at the Hawke's Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Show and promised the party would introduce a well-designed, well thought-out "bonding" programme to help retain vets.

"Rural veterinarians play an essential role in maintaining high standards of animal welfare, biosecurity, and food safety," he said. "Their severe shortage poses a critical threat to our pastoral farming model and is a major concern".

National expected that the cost of such a scheme would be $1.5 million in the first year, rising to $3 million in the second, and $4.5 million in the third year, he said.

It would meet the cost by cutting other spending in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF).

National would also consider the establishment of rural scholarships to encourage more students from rural backgrounds to study veterinary science, and work with Massey University, and veterinarians to address structural problems contributing to the rural veterinary shortage.

More than a third of the veterinarians who have graduated from Massey University over the past 14 years are not practising in New Zealand, and only 62 percent of new graduate veterinarians from the taxpayer-subsidised course have remained in the veterinary workforce in this country.

Ms Hood said the NZVA would not normally comment on political policies, but this particular policy proposal was an important step towards attracting and retaining young veterinary graduates in hard-to-service regions.

On the East Coast, there were large areas without easy access to a vet.

"In many rural areas, the thin green line which is the rural veterinary workforce is stretched and, in some cases, already broken," she said.

The NZVA had been working on identifying the extent of the rural veterinary shortage issue for the past two years, and Ms Hood said it was "heartened" by discussions with the Labour Government over the past 12 months. The association now wanted other political parties to sign up to supporting he veterinary workforce to underpin export earnings and the nation's welfare.

Earlier this year, veterinarians complained Government deregulation of animal remedy prescriptions had reduced their earnings to the point of posing a threat to nation's livestock sector, and the viability of agricultural exports.