Vol. 481 No. 1
40 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food his views on the serious decline in the production of home-produced fruit and vegetables, such as apples and potatoes, with a consequent increase in imports; the action, if any, he intends to take to redress the trend; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15500/97]
Any consideration of production and imports of fruit and vegetables must take account of the following: there are no restrictions on imports from other member states of the European Union and member states are precluded from taking unilateral action to encourage native production; the seasonality factor, especially in respect of fresh vegetables, means that economic production in this country is not possible for certain periods of the year; the variability of yields, particularly for potatoes, due to climatic conditions makes it impossible to achieve an exact match of production and demand on the domestic market.
Domestically produced vegetables collectively enjoy a market share of between 70 and 75 per cent. For some products such as potatoes, cabbage and mushrooms, the market share is as high as 90 per cent. However last year imports of vegetables showed an increase on 1995. There are a number of factors which contributed to this increase including adverse weather conditions and fluctuating exchange rates.
Overall the horticulture industry performed well in 1996 with output — excluding potatoes — increasing to over £166 million compared to £141 million in 1995. The mushroom and soft fruit sectors have already achieved the targets in the Bord Glas Development Plan 1994-99.
The potato sector had a difficult year in 1996 not only in Ireland but throughout the EU due to oversupply arising from increased production and high yield. In Ireland the increase in production was slight and in general while prices were much lower than in 1995 our producers fared better than their counterparts in some EU countries. Potato acreage in Ireland has increased from 40,823 in 1992 to 44,857 in 1996.
