asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will consider altering the quota of wheat to be grown in West Cork from one-sixteenth to one twenty-fifth of the arable land, and if he is aware that owing to the large acreage of reclaimed land as well as the unsuitability of the soil in many farms and the low yield per acre of wheat, other crops such as oats or rye would produce a bigger food yield.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Wheat Quota in West Cork.
I am not prepared to consider altering the quota of wheat, prescribed in the Tillage Order, to be grown in West Cork, as suggested by the Deputy. I am aware that wheat has been grown successfully in the district to which the Deputy refers. In West Cork there are areas of arable land on which wheat can be grown, and I am not aware that the soil on many farms containing arable land is unsuitable for the growing of wheat to the small extent required by the Order.
Is the Minister aware that in many farms in West Cork land planted under wheat did not produce two barrels to the acre this past season, and does the Minister intend to compel farmers to plant wheat in similar land for the coming season, when there is no certainty that any reasonable result will arise from doing so?
I am not aware that that was general.
Does the Minister intend to compel farmers in the congested areas, where the land is very poor, to grow wheat in the coming season?
I think Deputies do not advert to the fact that in these poorer areas the percentage of arable land is low, and, therefore, the percentage of wheat they will be asked to grow will be correspondingly very low.
Does the Minister suggest that wheat can be grown on reclaimed moorland, of which a large area of these farms consists?
I think that to a small extent it might.