asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is aware of the fact that serious losses have been incurred by pig feeders owing to the failure of the bacon curers to take delivery of supplies as offered; also, that the system of purchase by the curers at present is on a live-weight basis (as per advertisements) which, in the opinion of producers, is detrimental to their interests; that crises in pig production which adversely affect the industry are occurring periodically; and, in view of this, whether he will take immediate action to prevent a recurrence of those crises in the future.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Pig Production.
asked the Minister for Agriculture whether he is aware that bacon curers are refusing to buy pigs except on live-weight basis, with resulting loss to the producer, and in other cases refusing to take pigs without long delays, with the result that the increasing weight of held-over pigs reduces their class and consequently their price.
I propose to reply to Questions Nos. 32 and 33 together.
The matters mentioned are engaging the attention of the Pigs and Bacon Commission who, as the Deputies may observe, recently revised prices for pigs. The revised prices should assist bacon curers in taking delivery of pigs offered and should remove any tendency which may have existed to purchase pigs on a live-weight rather than a dead-weight basis.
Is the Minister aware that for the last fortnight some curers have refused to take any pigs at all, and that pigs brought to other curers and purchased are making 10/- per cwt. less than the statutory price to which the producers were entitled a fortnight ago? On top of that the statutory price has been reduced by about 3/- per cwt., so that the man who brought back a pig that was 12 stone, and that is now 13 stone, loses almost £1 per pig, because such pigs are over fat, and the statutory price has been reduced. That is bad enough, but is the Minister aware of the practice that has grown up recently amongst curers of believing that they can get pigs about 5/- cheaper by purchasing them by live weight instead of by dead weight, and who simply refuse to take the pigs unless they are sold on the live weight basis? Does that practice meet with the approval of the Department or was it ever contemplated when the Pigs and Bacon Act was passed?
No. There was evidence in the price arrangement some few months ago that it was better for curers to buy pigs by live weight. That change was made in prices early in September. The price was down for dead weight but not so much for live weight, but things were reversed in some cases. I got complaints from County Wexford that when buying pigs by live weight at the centres they refused to take them unless they were consigned to the factories and sold by dead weight. There has been a change again. As far as possible they are getting the prices of dead and live weight pigs related. We have complaints from some quarters if the prices are net properly regulated. Some people like to sell by dead weight and others to the factories and the commission has to keep prices regulated as well as possible. With regard to pigs left on farmers' hands, there is no doubt that the curers are not taking as many pigs for some time past. The commission advertised as well as they could that they were prepared to take pigs. They got a fair number of pigs, some of which they sold to the factories and some they exported. They bought, at the seller's option, either live weight or dead weight. I should like Deputies to spread the knowledge amongst farmers that the commission will take pigs if they find that they must sell them. That is the only thing we can do at the moment.
I think that is very good, and that it is a constructive and useful thing to have an announcement of that kind. Is the Minister aware that the commission made a grave error when putting the scheme into operation, and that instead of buying pigs outright, and giving the people the money, they took them from them in many cases on a consignment basis, making a payment on account, and later giving the balance, with the result that farmers had to wait a considerable time for the balance of the money? That is an easy operation where you have large farmers accustomed to deal with business affairs, but where you have small men with a couple of pigs they have a kind of feeling that they will never be paid. Is it not possible for the commission when purchasing to do so on the basis of paying outright?
Where there is an arrangement they will.
More than that I do not think could reasonably be asked. The Minister is familiar with the live weight scales used for weighing pigs, which could easily be transported, and as centres have been established where the commission proposes to buy pigs, if the Minister could get a certain limited number of these scales furnished to representatives of the commission working in centres where no public scales are available pigs could be weighed live weight and paid for. The pigs could then be weighed in the presence of the farmers who are selling. I think that is a matter worthy of consideration. It need not be done in every centre, but only where scales are not available. If the number of centres at which the commission was prepared to buy was increased, I think the present difficulties might be overcome. I suggest to the Minister in that connection that everywhere there was a licensed factory Government inspectors or someone else should be authorised to buy pigs for the commission, if the factories were not taking them.
The Deputy is going outside the question.
I realise that, but I took it that you would allow latitude on account of the difficulties that have arisen.
The Deputy will appreciate that as a result of the Chair's latitude with regard to supplementaries, questions have taken twice the normal time.
I appreciate that.
The commission has considered the question of portable scales, but there are some difficulties both legally and from the point of view of efficiency that have not been got over. We are considering them.
Will the Minister say if the extra quota we got a couple of months ago is yet exhausted?
Yes.
What are the prospects of an increased quota?
They are very poor at the moment.