asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline proposals for the implementation of the report on the expansion of pig numbers; and whether he has any other proposals in this regard to achieve the necessary increase in numbers.
23.
Written Answers. - Pig Numbers.
13.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food given that the Government and FEOGA have committed a £140 million investment programme for the pig meat sector, if he has satisfied himself that when the six large modern processing plants will come on stream in the next 12 months that there will be sufficient pigs by way of raw material to meet the demands of these plants.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 23 together.
Last July I announced a major programme for the development of the pigmeat processing industry involving total investment of £140 million. To ensure the success of the programme it will be necessary to achieve a sizeable increase in the national pig herd on a profitable and sustained basis.
With this objective in mind, I established a pig production group last October, composed of representatives of my Department, the IDA, AFT and ACOT who were asked, in particular, to look at the best ways of expanding pig numbers and to identify potential constraints which could mitigate against such expansion.
The agreed report of the group, presented to me last month outlined a number of measures by which the necessary expansion required to reach a target of 3 million pigs per year by 1992, could be achieved. The proposals include measures to stimulate investment in the production sector of the industry, the provision of better quality feed at competitive cost and the improvement of the genetic base of the national herd.
It is now necessary to get industry backing for the proposals or, indeed, for the industry themselves to come up with suitable alternatives. With this in mind the group has recently initiated discussions with the various sectors of the industry so that a specific action programme can be agreed upon and set in motion as quickly as possible.