Details of a £65 million package to alleviate the effects of the foot and mouth outbreak in rural Wales have been announced by first minister Rhodri Morgan.

In the short-term there is extra help for rural businesses through an extra £9 million in grants being made available. Over the longer-term there will be extra money to promote tourism and community regeneration schemes to help economic recovery.

Morgan said the announcement set out a practical and affordable series of measures which would help the rural economy.

"The objective now is to implement the measures immediately so that help can reach people as quickly as possible. The assembly and the lead agencies identified in the plan, together with delivery partners a the local level, will proceed with this as fast as they can," he said.

The £9 million Rural Business Recovery Fund will be concentrated on the nine rural local authorities, which will be free to use the money improve the economic, social and environmental well being of their areas.

There will also be £4.2 million for developing tourism, £11 million to help farm businesses and £10 million each for environmental and community regeneration projects.

There will also be £1 million to promote local shows and events and just under £3 million to support measures to tackle rural stress.

Opposition parties in Wales are likely to express concern that the programme will be funded from existing budgets, but rural affairs minister Carwyn Jones said the measures represented an affordable package of help.

"The outbreak has caused immense stress in rural communities and there will be action to provide practical help to those who need help, delivered via community mental health care teams and targeted on the areas most effected by the disease. There is additional funding for the Rural Hardship Fund and support organisations and the assembly has provided over £1 million to match financial help from organisations such as the ARC Addington Fund and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution," said Jones.

The announcement follows news that foot and mouth disease continues to hit rural Wales. On Wednesday it was announced that a significant number of sheep in five areas of the Brecon Beacons had tested positive for the disease.

Four thousand sheep will be slaughtered as a result of the find, in an attempt to halt any further spread of the disease in the region.

There have been 108 confirmed cases in Wales to date, with a further three suspected cases. Over 320,000 animals have been slaughtered as a result of the disease.