asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he is aware that small farmers' wives are receiving only 1/6 to 1/9 per dozen for eggs; and what action he intends to take to see that they get a fair price for their produce.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Egg Prices.
15.
My information is that the general level of prices at present being paid to producers for eggs ranges from 1/9 to 2/- per dozen.
With a view to achieving a more even volume of egg production throughout the year and avoiding unduly low prices in the "flush" spring period, my Department year by year urges poultry-keepers to cull their less productive birds when egg prices fall, from about the end of January, and to buy early hatched pullet chicks which will come into lay for the second half of the year when eggs supplies are low and prices are high.
Can the Minister tell us if he believes that 1/6 or even 1/9 a dozen is an economic price for eggs? Is he prepared to see that the small farmers and labouring people who are producing eggs will get a fair return for their labour?
I am prepared to consider any measures which are possible in the situation. However, I am afraid the trend is against the free range farmyard poultry enterprise.
Then there is no hope left for the small farmer.
That is not what I am saying. It is possible for a small farmer——
Will the Minister tell us what price he is getting for the eggs being produced on his farm at the present time?
Deputy Murphy is waiting to go out to visit the Minister's farm.
I feel entitled to claim privilege in respect of that question by Deputy Murphy.
Deputy Murphy had a date with a hen and he never turned up.
There is no reason why any small farmer should not go in for intensive egg production.
He cannot sell the eggs.
What guarantee has he got of a market?
My Department is prepared to assist anyone going into egg production in an intensive way by making grants and other assistance available.
The price of eggs at present is completely uneconomic.
It is uneconomic, at present, I am afraid, for the old style of farmyard production.
Is it not true that if a small number of people turned over to the type of production the Minister has in mind, the supply would exceed the demand and the price would fall down to this level?
I do not think so. In some counties, our instructors have succeeded in getting groups of farmers together in a co-operative type of organisation and they are doing very well in the production of eggs commercially.
An insignificant number.
There is a group contemplating the export of eggs.
Can the Minister tell the House the cost of producing a dozen of eggs even in an intensive way?
If you are in commercial egg production in an intensive way, you have to take the whole year round. If you go about the job properly, equip yourself properly and run it as an efficient enterprise, commercial egg production can and does pay. In some counties, there are groups organised on a co-operative basis who are doing quite well at commercial egg production.
I am calling the next question.
Will the Minister not agree that, despite an increase in costs, the price of eggs today is lower than it was some years ago?