asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state the total acreage of wheat which it is calculated would be required to supply the home requirements of the community during the cereal year 1942-43; whether he will state the acreage already sown, and if he proposes to take steps, and, if so, what steps, to ensure that sufficient acreage will be sown to provide the total quantity of wheat required.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Wheat Acreage.
To supply the home requirements of the community during the cereal year 1942-43, including the provision of seed for the following year's crop, it would be necessary to have about 650,000 acres under wheat. It is expected that the price now offered for wheat will ensure that a sufficient area will be sown. It is not possible to state what wheat acreage has been sown already this season.
If the price now being offered is not likely to ensure that a sufficiency of wheat is sown in the current cereal year, will the Minister indicate what steps the Government propose to ensure that a sufficiency of wheat is, in fact, sown?
These steps will be indicated later.
Will they be taken before it is too late to sow wheat?
They will be taken in time to ensure the necessary food supply, anyway.