If any further evidence is required that all is not well with the agricultural sector of our economy, the tables which we received this morning relating to the national income provide food for thought. I notice on page 7, Table 3 which gives the percentage distribution of the national income of the different sectors, that the agricultural share of the national income has gone down as between 1953 and 1959, from 29.4 per cent. to 24.7 per cent. I appreciate that there are certain reasons for that, particularly in the past year or two when the two bad harvests contributed to this decline, but taking the picture for a particular seven year period, I think we certainly have reason to take a close look at the rewards which the agricultural sector of the community get for their contribution to the national economy.
I do not regard subsidies as an ideal solution. The most that can be said for them is that they are a part solution of the problem but in regard to certain products of the farmers, I think subsidies must continue to be paid, particularly in respect of the dairying industry which is the keystone of the entire agricultural industry. The rest of the country must face the fact that the dairy farmer is in a unique position in many regards and that he must be maintained at the expense of the community as a whole in the interests of the community as a whole. Meanwhile, every possible effort must be made by the industry itself, with the assistance, the drive and the leadership of the Minister and his Department, to find other and more economic outlets for milk, and particularly for surplus milk, which is a recurring problem.
In that regard, the recent entry of the Condensed Milk Company of Ireland factory at Limerick into this industry is welcome, if somewhat belated. It is a great pity the directors of that concern did not engage in other outlets for milk in the past, such as chocolate crumb. It is senseless economy to send milk out of the greatest milk producing area in the country and its contiguous areas into other areas where these chocolate crumb plants have been situated. However, that is past history. In any future expansion of other outlets for milk the position of Limerick in regard to milk production should receive prior consideration. Certainly the factory at Lansdowne in Limerick is a very valuable centre which should be used to the maximum extent and which certainly has not been used to the maximum extent or potentiality in past years.
I would far prefer that any assistance which the Department gives or intends to give to the agricultural industry would be devoted to lowering costs. Taking the long term view of it, the more sensible farmers would rather produce at prices which would allow them to compete in the outside world, particularly as their traditional market, the British market, to which I referred last night is, for reasons into which we need not go now, partly political and partly economic, decreasing in value. The fact that the British are now spending £250,000,000 a year subsidising their farmers and that our farmers have to compete at those fictitious price levels is some indication of the necessity to look outside the British market for a growing proportion of our export trade.
In that regard the emergent states of the African Continent would appear to offer one outlet that should be pursued with energy by the Minister and his Department. I do not know what plans the Minister has already made for exploiting these new markets. As far as I know, the Minister's Department has made no statement to the effect that it is alive to the potentialities in these countries. We naturally appreciate that the purchasing power of these countries is small now but that will grow and grow rapidly as these States come under the control of their own Governments and when they start pumping capital into the economy to expand it and raise the standard of living of their peoples.
Therefore we would be very well-advised to be the first, or among the first in the field exploiting these new markets. The Middle East and the East should also offer great opportunities for Irish agricultural produce. In saying that, I do not want to be taken as writing off the British market which must continue for many years or possibly for the rest of time to be our main market. We should do far more to exploit the English market. We seem to take absolutely no interest in the agricultural trade shows or fairs held in England. For some reason or other, we have given up having stalls or stands there and we seem to be quite content to market our produce in England under other trade names.
I am sure every Deputy from time to time receives letters from Irish people living in England stating that they cannot get Irish butter, Irish bacon or other Irish products under an Irish trade name or even under the normal words: "Made in the Republic of Ireland". There may be reasons for the practice established in the past and reasons why it should be continued but, if we intend to adopt a positive, aggressive sales policy, we must take our courage in our hands and, whatever the temporary upsets may be, seek our own outlets even if it means going into wholesale and retail trading in England. It is sad from our point of view to see the energetic efforts of the New Zealanders and the Danes to push their products in the British market under national brand names.
Deputies who have spoken before me on this motion have stressed the necessity of marketing generally. I appreciate that the Minister has this in view but I want to join with those who criticised the slow and ineffective progress made to date. If we want to sell anything, whether it be eggs, beef, bacon or butter, we must be far more aggressive in world markets than we have been up to now.
In this regard I do not know of any contact more useful—with all due respect to the numerous boards which have been set up from time to time— than that of the individual manufacturer or groups of manufacturers going over themselves to exploit these markets. I should like to see far more of that done by the agricultural community as well as by the industrial community.
Greater effort should be made in regard to publicity and propaganda. There is a limited amount of that done but there is nothing catchy or attractive about it. More attention should be given to what has now become a world wide tendency in selling and that is publicity in various forms. The publicity content of any items nowadays is enormous compared with even a few years ago. I think it is no exaggeration to say that in some instances the cost of the publicity is at least equal to the value of the article.
I am one of those who always subscribed to the viewpoint that in giving employment industry must make a major contribution, but no industrial development should take place at the expense of agriculture. I have the feeling that, if in the past we have not developed the industrial side of our economy at the expense of agriculture, certainly we have done so at the neglect of agriculture. The two should go hand in hand and our orientation and our thinking must be guided by the fact that our basic national asset is 12,000,000 acres of first-class agricultural land.
An expanding industry associated with an efficient, prosperous agricultural sector is the ideal solution for our economic problems. For years to come there is bound to be migration, even emigration, from the rural areas for historical reasons as well as economic reasons. The only way to adjust that is to ensure that if our people have to migrate from small holdings their migration will be as short as possible and that they will be within reasonable distance of industries based, wherever practicable, on the raw materials the farmer produces himself.
