Vol. 539 No. 1
170 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if his attention has been drawn to the targets to convert agricultural land to organic production in most European countries being between 10% and 20%; and if he will introduce a targeted organic conversion strategy here, such as 30%, by 2010. [18968/01]
The organic development committee which I established in line with a recommendation of the AgriFood 2010 committee has been asked "to recommend a coherent development strategy to achieve expansion in production, processing and marketing of Irish organic produce and to secure an increased share of the growing national and export markets; and to consider the broad actions necessary for the most advantageous long-term future development of the Irish organic sector while protecting its integrity". Projections or targets for growth in the organic sector are among the issues that I expect to arise from the committee's report, which I hope to receive later this year.
