Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 April 2007
756 Mr. Connolly asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food her plans to ensure Government support for the horticulture industry and producers of fruit and vegetables, to assist in bringing farmers together to qualify for EU funding for their producers’ organisations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14514/07]
View answerMy Department has contributed to the development of the horticulture industry particularly through its grant aid schemes under the National Development Plan 2000-2006. These schemes have been a catalyst for investment and growth and have assisted producers to upgrade or develop new production facilities and have also enabled commercial enterprises to improve marketing and processing facilities with a total grant aid of up to €40m being paid out to the fruit, vegetable and potato sectors.
The Scheme to assist capital investment on farms under the National Development Plan 2007-2013 aims to promote the specialisation and diversification of on-farm activities, improvement in the quality of products and to facilitate the development of environmentally friendly practices. Funding of some €49m for this sector will support investments in excess of €122m over the period of the scheme. Grant aid of €6.5m will be provided to support investments of some €16m in 2007. Further aid will also be made available under the Capital Investment Scheme for the Marketing and Processing of Agricultural Products to operators in the horticulture sector.
In addition to these two schemes, fruit and vegetable producers benefit from EU aid under the Producer Organisation (PO) scheme. POs provide their members the opportunity to concentrate marketing, reduce production costs and stabilize prices. The EU proposals for reform of the Common Organisation of the market for fruit and vegetables, which were presented to the Agriculture Council on 29 January, identify a strengthening of the role for POs as the core part of the strategy for improving the competitiveness of the fruit and vegetable sector in the future. The proposals include measures for crisis management organized through POs and enhanced aid for measures both within and outside the PO framework to promote consumption of fruit and vegetables particularly by young people. It is expected that a new Regulation will be published later this year and will be effective from 1 January 2008.
Since 2000, twenty Irish POs have benefited from EU funding amounting to €24m. With proposals now on the table for greater flexibility in the EU rules, governing the formation and operation of POs, I hope to see them playing a much greater role in the future in supporting Irish producers of fruit and vegetables.
757 Mr. Connolly asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food her plans to ensure that an accurate annual register of potato growers is put in place, which would provide the industry with accurate records of areas and locations of potato planting here each year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14515/07]
View answerUnder the Registration of Potato Growers and Potato Packers Act, 1984, as amended, any person who grows or packs potatoes must be registered with this Department. The grower's registration number must be placed on the bag/label/container or in the case of a packer, both the packer's registration number and that of the grower. These registration numbers can be viewed by the consumer on the Departments website to establish the source of the potatoes. The Department continually updates the register to include new growers and remove those who have exited the industry.
The legislation also provides that both growers and packers maintain detailed records of all quantities of potatoes purchased or sold. Growers are required to maintain accurate records of seed source, quantities grown by variety and sales. This information must, on request, be furnished to the Department. The data for 2006 which were collected by the Department from growers have been submitted to Bord Bia for analysis and this information will be used in the compilation of the National Potato Census (2006) which is expected to be published shortly.
