Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 May 2022
562. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 40 of 9 May 2019, the level of animal feedstuffs imported each year since 2018; the steps that have been taken to reduce the dependence of Ireland on imported genetically modified feeds; if he will quantify the success of these steps; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21881/22]
View answerIreland, due to our high proportion of livestock production compared to tillage area, is very dependent on feed imports relative to other EU Member States.
The following table details imports of feed materials for the period 2018 to 2021:
|
Year |
Quantity (Tonnes) |
|
2018 |
5,056,534 |
|
2019 |
4,083,847 |
|
2020 |
4,255,654 |
|
2021 |
4,112,092 |
My Department provides valuable supports to the tillage sector by way of the Straw Incorporation Measure, Coupled Protein Aid, capital investment scheme for tillage farmers, the recently announced Tillage Incentive Scheme, and a high-quality official crop seed certification scheme and an extensive national crop variety evaluation programme, providing invaluable information to growers on the latest varieties available.
While there has been a decline in tillage area since 2012, the area has stabilised in recent years and in 2021 the cereal area increased by 3% or circa 9,000ha. Teagasc have provisionally estimated a further increase in 2022.
This level of increase will not achieve self-sufficiency in terms of animal feed due to the high protein requirements of our pig and poultry sector but the extra tonnage of grain will reduce our reliance on imports to some degree.
While there is some scope for more protein production in Southern and Eastern Europe, climatic conditions in Western and Northern EU Member States is not suited to growing large-scale quantities of suitable quality protein supplies, irrespective of whether they are from GM or non-GM crops. Improvements in crop breeding and availability of new varieties may change that to some extent in the future.
If all imports of feed materials were sourced as non-GM, this would incur a significant additional cost which would leave livestock production in Ireland at a competitive disadvantage compared to other countries that have the capacity to produce soya and other protein crops.
