I wish to thank you, Sir, for allowing me to raise this important issue on the Adjournment here tonight. I also wish to thank the Minister for coming in to answer my question.
The exceptionally wet weather throughout most parts of the country combined with low levels of sunshine and light during the late spring and early summer has created many problems for those people working in all branches of farming. In my own area of Cavan-Monaghan it has caused serious problems for dairy and livestock producers, expecially as many cattle had to be housed and fed from scarce winter feed and silage was very difficult to make.
However, tonight I want to speak specfically about the serious problems encountered by potato, vegetable and fruit growers in the eastern part of the country. According to an independent survey carried out by Teagasc on 160 affected holdings in north Dublin and east Meath, the damage has been very severe.
Rainfall of over 225 per cent above normal in May and over 300 per cent above normal in June, with three inches of rain falling within 24 hours on one particular day, caused most of the problems. Waterlogging of soil naturally caused the vegetables to rot in the ground. On one farm there was a total loss of 45 acres of iceberg lettuce, with approximately half a million plants dead; four acres of broccoli, four acres of scallions and one acre of glasshouse lettuce were lost due to the high water table. There are 12 full-time workers and 30 part-time workers employed on that farm alone.
On another farm, 20 acres of potatoes out of a total of 30 were lost. A further eight acres sustained an 80 per cent loss and another two acres sustained a 30 per cent loss. On the same farm one acre of cabbage had a 30 per cent loss and one acre of cauliflower sustained a 50 per cent loss. A total of 90,000 other plants were lost on the same farm. On a third farm 32 acres of potatoes were lost, 19 acres sustained 70 per cent loss, 26 acres a 50 per cent loss, 17 acres a 40 per cent loss and eight acres a 20 per cent loss. Most of this land was rented, so the farmer had to pay for the use of the land regardless of whether or not he made any profit. His total turnover was £106,000 in 1991, £126,000 in 1992, but it is down this year to approximately £57,000.
The potato loss in this small area alone comes somewhere in the region of £3.7 million while that for other crops come to around £2 million. When other counties, such a Wicklow, Wexford, Kildare etc. are taken into account, the total loss would be around £8 million to potato growers and over £2.5 million to vegetable growers.
This will give the Minister some idea of how serious this problem is for the small number of farmers concerned. I must point out that many of these farmers are giving employment to people, either on a full-time or part-time basis. At least 1,000 jobs are at risk.
These producers have built up this industry at the request of the Government, especially after the establishment of An Bord Glas, to try to counteract the importation of fruit and vegetables to this country. They have not only helped to replace many imported products but have also got involved in the export of both fruit and vegetables to Northern Ireland and to the UK. Many of these producers will be forced out of business if immediate action is not taken to alleviate their problems.
The restoration of production potential is what these farmers are asking for. Many of them will not be able to finance seed and fertiliser for the new crops because they have not been able to pay for last year's, solely because of the abnormal weather conditions and through no fault of their own.
In the 1985-86 period, when Deputy Deasy was Minister for Agriculture, help was provided to alleviate the problems of the western and northern parts of this country due to severe weather conditions at that time. More recently the Minister, or at least the Department of Agriculture with the aid of the EC, helped in some way to alleviate the problems of potato producers in Donegal.
Tonight, we are asking the Minister for immediate action to make sure that these farmers are allowed to remain in production, that they are allowed to gain back some of the hard won markets, not only our own domestic market but also in the places where we had already built up a good name as exporters.
I understand that the Minister has met with representatives of the groups I mentioned. The pressure is enormous, the needs are great and we are depending on the Minister to come forward with constructive, positive proposals to alleviate this serious problem and allow these intensive and hard working producers not only remain in business but to be given the opportunity to increase employment in this particular field of production. At a time when there are 300,000 people unemployed we need to take whatever action is necessary.
