Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2023
13. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he remains confident for the dairy, beef, lamb and pig meat sectors, as well as the cereal sector, into the future; the areas in which competition is most likely anticipated on international markets; the extent to which the industry can meet these challenges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55725/23]
View answerI wish to ascertain the extent to which the Minister can forecast the various threats to Irish agricultural exports at home and abroad and the likelihood of the ability of the industry to maintain its place on international markets.
I am confident that the outlook for the Irish agrifood industries remains very positive. Food Vision 2030, our shared strategy for the sustainable development of the agrifood sector over the decade ahead, includes several actions to develop overseas market opportunities and envisages a sustainable increase in the value of Irish agrifood exports to €21 billion by 2030 driven by value rather than volume. This will, of course, benefit both our primary producers and our agrifood industry.
The Government is playing its part in assisting this sustainability. The Irish CAP strategic plan, which runs until 2027, has the highest ever available budget of €9.8 billion and more than 60% of that is targeted at supporting farm incomes. The CAP objectives aim to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the agricultural sector. We have seen a real shift in focus towards supporting farmers to engage in practices that benefit the climate, environment and biodiversity. In Ireland’s case, a significant element of our CAP funding is targeted towards delivering on environmental and climate objectives. At EU level we have the second highest amount of CAP funding dedicated to environmental action, with almost 70% of the Pillar 2 rural development funding, including €1.5 billion for the new agri-environment scheme ACRES and a fivefold increase in funding for organic farming.
Similarly, much progress has been made in expanding the reach of Irish agrifood exports to consumers worldwide. Selling into international markets is challenging. The Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, is doing lots of work to develop and diversify new markets. The Minister of State, Senator Hackett, is doing significant work regarding opening up organic markets. This is a top priority for my Department in co-operation with Bord Bia.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
To support the strategic goals of developing and diversifying agrifood export markets, and to prepare the industry for any challenges they may face, Bord Bia received an allocation of €57 million in budget 2024, an increase on the previous year. This funding will enable Bord Bia to continue to invest in developing new markets, to defend and expand agrifood exports in existing markets and to build upon the reputation of Irish food across the globe in tandem with my Department's work programme to gain, maintain and enhance market access.
Another important component of the Government's strategy to develop and diversify markets is high-level ministerial trade missions. In recent months, I led trade missions to China and South Korea while the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, led a trade mission to Malaysia and the Philippines.
Also essential to the development of new markets outside the EU is the technical work that frequently takes place behind the scenes. Technical negotiations with importing countries, including inward visits and inspection by their competent authorities, are typically a lengthy and multifaceted process often taking several years before bilateral agreements are concluded and trade can commence.
Specifically on meat exports, notable successes were achieved in the past year in terms of market access for Irish meat, including pork and pork products to Malaysia and beef, pig meat and sheep meat to Cambodia. My Department also achieved enhanced access to markets including Singapore and the Philippines.
We are an exporting nation with 90% of our food produce leaving the island. My Department will continue to work with agrifood industries, Bord Bia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and our embassies in pursuit of new opportunities internationally. As a result of this, I have the utmost confidence that our agrifood sector is well placed to meet any challenges it may face and that it will continue to thrive.
Could the Minister tell me the extent to which volume in the various sectors is on the move in either a positive or negative direction and the degree to which any intervention can be made to ensure that volumes do not decrease too much given that the world population is increasing and demand is likely to increase? If the Irish agrifood sector cannot supply the various markets it has traditionally supplied and new markets, it will find itself in a situation where dependence for supply will go to other regions. While the value of exports is increasing, volume must also be maintained. Could the Minister indicate the extent to which he remains assured that volume levels are safe?
Volume levels are quite stable. We have seen a significant increase in value from 2021 to 2022. We set a record for agrifood exports last year, which were worth €19 billion, which from memory was up from €16 billion the year before so it was a significant increase. We had inflation across different categories and some of that will be factored in, but we were also building value during this time. That was against the backdrop of largely stable volume across beef, dairy, all our key main projects and seafood.
We saw significant expansion in the dairy sector after the removal of milk quotas in 2014. Much of that is built into the system. We have seen a stabilisation regarding animal numbers and output. This year, we will see a bit of a drop-off in milk supply because of the weather we had over the year, particularly in recent months with challenging weather conditions and poorer prices throughout October and particularly November. We saw earlier drying off of animals than we would have seen previously, so we will probably see a bit of a drop. That is weather-related.
Given that the agrifood sector in this country was instrumental in the recovery following the financial crash and there are many issues that will confront the sector in the future, some of which were referred to by the Minister, can he indicate the degree to which Irish agriculture can contribute to the world food supply? Approximately 40 million people are fed by the agrifood sector in this country. How is this likely to continue and what are the prospects ahead?
We will be continuing that; we have to. As a country that is so lucky given its place on the globe and the fact that the jet stream comes all the way up and keeps our climate very mild and gives us great growing conditions and great capacity to be productive regarding food, we must appreciate that gift and produce the food we need because many other parts of the world do not the gift and capacity we have but they need that food.
The world population is increasing. It will reach close to 10 billion by 2050. It is getting harder and harder in many climate-vulnerable parts of the world to produce food. Our task, therefore, is to keep being productive and to back family farms producing food, which is massively important, while in the process reducing significantly the emissions footprint of that food as we produce it, and then to export it to those countries that need it. We need to keep that going, to back our farmers and their great work, and to back our industry and its great work. We also need to contribute to significantly reducing our emissions, which we all have to do across all sectors of the economy to address the challenges that are making it so hard to produce food in many climate-vulnerable countries.
