Vol. 429 No. 4
38 Ms F. Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the current position regarding the Government's proposals to expand agricultural output having regard to the negative influence of the Common Agricultural Policy reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The price and volume restrictions agreed under the Common Agricultural Policy reform package are likely to restrict scope for further expansion of the currently high levels of gross output in the beef, sheep-meat, cereals and milk sectors. Development in these areas will in future come from greater efficiency and quality improvement. In order to maintain and increase the value of output, Teagasc is making special efforts to encourage efficiency at farm level and reduce production costs. The lower input costs resulting from Common Agricultural Policy reform together with generally improved competitiveness should allow output in the pig and poultrymeat sectors to be expanded further. Significant expansion is also possible in the horticultural area.
I expect any reduction in the level of gross output resulting from the Common Agricultural Policy reforms to be more than compensated by way of increased direct payments to farmers and reduced feed input costs. In addition, the Common Agricultural Policy reform provisions are accompanied by a range of measures designed to protect the environment, restructure farm holdings to make them more viable and to find alternative uses for land. In addition, the operational programme for rural development under the aegis of my Department contains a number of schemes designed to encourage farm diversification and farm based enterprise.
