Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 7 May 1991

Vol. 407 No. 9

Written Answers. - Fruit and Vegetable Imports Statistics.

Austin Deasy

Question:

113 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the estimated value of imported fruit and vegetables in (a) 1987 (b) 1988 (c) 1989 and (d) 1990 which could reasonably have been expected to be produced in this country.

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. O'Kennedy)

The following are the values of imports of fruit and vegetables during the past four years.

	Fruit	Vegetables
	£m	£m
1987	£73.9	£72.6
1988	£70.5	£68.7
1989	£180	£80.3
1990	£79.3*	£79.8

*Provisional

I would refer the Deputy to An Bord Glas's "Programme for the Development of Horticulture" which sets out a five-year plan up to 1993 aimed at developing the potential of the horticultural industry. The targets for the industry are a combined domestic market share recovery and export expansion of £60 million of which £53 million relates to fruit and vegetables. This is the best estimate of what can be achieved in the foreseeable future.

It is not possible to forecast accurately what percentage of the increased production will be absorbed by import substitution, increased domestic consumption or exports.