I move:
That Seanad Éireann is alarmed at the present unprecedented flight from the land and calls on the Government to drastically change its agricultural policy.
Perhaps the House would agree if I delegated to Senator Quinlan the right to reply. Figures show that our agricultural labour force fell during the census period 1951-1961 by 23.4 per cent or 88,085 people. This figure in itself is bad enough but when it is broken down, it assumes graver proportions. We find during the same census period there was a sharp decline in the number of girls on our farms. There were 1,464 girls aged 17 years working on farms in 1951 compared with 606 in 1961.
If we are to close our eyes to these figures, it will mean that there will be an endless continuation of the situation whereby rural Ireland will be inhabited mainly by very young people and by bachelors because there certainly will not be any girls for any of our farmers to marry. Looking again at the figures, we find that sons and sons-in-law living on the land have declined by 38.9 per cent during the decade. This figure perhaps brings home to the public the fact that in a few years there will be very few people left to take over the homesteads and the farms of Ireland when the present generation of farmers pass on.
I should like to point out that this high rate of emigration is not confined to the West or to any region of Ireland. When we look at the figures for the total agricultural labour force for Leinster, we find that the number of sons and sons-in-law working on the land in that census period, 1951-61, declined by 32.4 per cent. Surely with the population of Leinster one would expect this figure perhaps to remain stable? We find the same trend in every part of the country. The decline varies very little from county to county.
In Carlow, the number of sons and sons-in-law declined by 6.5 per cent. In County Dublin, they declined by five per cent; in Kildare, by 7.4 per cent; in Longford, by 9.6 per cent, and so on in every county in the Republic. Those figures which were compiled by An Foras Talúntais, by Dr. E.A. Atwood of the rural division, pinpoint the seriousness of this problem. It is not sufficient for anyone to say that this trend exists all over the world, in all countries of the world. The unsavoury factor remains that here it is a problem. It is a problem we have with us and we must attempt to tackle it.
Before we can put forward any remedy, we must first of all know exactly what the problem is. I certainly do not believe that the flight from the land is to any great degree a social problem. I feel that the main reason why those people are leaving the land is that they see a bleak future for themselves and a very small chance of the younger boys and girls ever being able to settle down and rear families at the present day accepted standard of living. We must devise some means of stemming this flow of emigration. If the present rate of emigration continues, there will be no one left in a few years.
I gave some figures for farmers and members of farmers' families. Perhaps we could consider agricultural labourers working on the land. Again, I quote from An Foras Talúntais publication "Changes in the Agricultural Labour Force, 1951-61". We find that the number of farm workers living in has declined by 54 per cent in the ten year period, 1951-61. The numbers living out declined by 22.9 per cent in the same census period. Surely the Minister and all people interested in the flight from the land or in any aspect of agriculture must realise the seriousness of the problem those figures indicate? If this present trend continues, it will be extremely difficult for farmers to undertake the production of crops or to undertake any agricultural or horticultural activities which require a high labour force. It will certainly present great problems for our dairying industry. The sooner we get down to tackling the problem of how best to stem this emigration and the flight from the land, the better chance we have of surviving.
Last week we had announced a merger between Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann and Heinz Foods. I cannot see any hope for any operation of this kind unless some stabilising effect is brought to bear on the numbers engaged in agriculture because the production of the vast majority of vegetables requires a very high labour content. I might say, in passing, that very few people realise that the farmers as the prime producers receive only 15 per cent of the ultimate retail price of those vegetables. It certainly is a very poor return for the backbreaking labour involved. Unless this figure is drastically increased, there cannot be any great increase in the acreage that will be devoted to vegetables.
The present Government policy certainly has failed as far as agriculture is concerned because in between the years 1951 and 1961, no fewer than 25,000 farmers were forced to quit their homes and leave the land and 63,085 members of their families were forced to emigrate. I do not think any Government who allowed those figures to be realised could claim that their policy had achieved any measure of success. It is extraordinary with famine in so many parts of the world, and want and hunger, that we can cast a blind eye to the huge numbers of primary producers and farmers who are leaving the land and who in many cases are encouraged to do so.
What is needed in this country is a new and dynamic approach to the entire problem of Irish agriculture. As I have already said, the youth of Ireland are not being lured away by bright lights: they are leaving because of dire economic necessity. When we speak of incomes in the industrial sector, we speak of the wage packet which the father of the family or the breadwinner takes home on Thursday or Friday afternoon. When we are dealing with agriculture, the figure mentioned is the family farm income. This sum works out at about £5 or £6 per farmer per week and represents the reward for the labour of not only the farmer but of his wife, and perhaps many of his children, if he is blessed in having some. This is a very serious problem and a matter that many of our urban population do not appear to realise.
The main thing wrong with the Government's policy is that too many of their schemes are introduced merely as part of a stop-gap policy rather than as a long-term remedy. I cannot see how the Government can still only see one particular type of farmer whereas in other countries the Governments recognise that there are differences between farmers and that they are in different categories. For instance, when the Danish Minister for Agriculture is sending out a circular to the farmers, he writes to the "Dear estate owner", "Dear farmer", or "Dear smallholder". In this country the extaordinary thing is that the Department of Agriculture look on the entire agricultural scene as one problem and apparently have not tumbled to the fact that there are grave differences of husbandry techniques and a different way of life as between country and country, and that the lot of these farmers varies accordingly from county to county.
I think that as a first step the Department of Agriculture should take one hard look at Irish agriculture and see those engaged in it for what they are, not just as perhaps to some of them a pain in the neck and a crowd who awaken them from their slumbers far too often. Until the Minister and his Department can see Irish agriculture and Irish farmers in their respective categories, there is no hope of ever being able to treat the ailments of the Irish agricultural industry, which is certainly stagnating at the present time. We have 84,163 farmers with under 30 acres, and I assure the House that the amount of family farm income available in many parts of the country from 30 acres is certainly far behind the accepted weekly wage of industrial workers.
The Department have in the past put too little thought into the schemes they introduced. I would instance the heifer scheme as a scheme that was put across without the least regard for how the increased number of cattle were to be disposed of. There were no marketing arrangements to sell the increase in the number of cattle, and perhaps the worst feature of that scheme is the fact that to a certain extent it re-introduced into our country a type of scrub cattle that had been eliminated over the years with the system under the county committees of agriculture, the bull shows and other such means. This perhaps is unfortunate because instead of that adverse trend, the farming community were anxiously awaiting a new scheme of progeny testing, which is highly desirable and imperative if we are to compete in perhaps the European Community, especially as far as the dairying industry is concerned.
We find, even apart from the shortcomings, that the application and the administration of this scheme is something that is difficult for the ordinary farmer to understand. It is not uncommon for farmers to have to wait six, eight or nine months to get payment of the £15 heifer subsidy. One case came to my notice last week where a man applied last May. His heifers were inspected in October and he is still awaiting the three or four £15 grants. Nobody can claim that that is efficiency on the part of the Department of Agriculture. It is difficult for a Department which are apparently so inefficient to expect and advocate that the Irish farmers should improve their efficiency a great deal. They are certainly far behind the times themselves.
I would like to see some steps being taken to revitalise the pig industry. We have throughout the length and breadth of Ireland at present thousands of farms on which it is apparently no longer profitable to keep or rear pigs. At the same time, we have bacon factories closing down for want of supplies. This is a problem that surely can be tackled by the Department. The Government's agricultural policy has cut completely across the old traditional farming methods and they have completely wiped out the pig industry. They have destroyed the turkey industry. There were very few, if any, turkeys exported last year, while at the same time we know that there is certainly a market in Britain for the Irish turkey. These are all operations which the small farmers have been engaged in for generations, but because of their policy, the Government, who apparently do not care about the small people any more, have left these people to be priced out of the market and just left to emigrate.
I feel that there is a deliberate attempt or a deliberate policy to slow down the brucellosis scheme, and that this is being done because of the unsatisfactory situation with regard to the market for calves. This is a great pity, and it is certainly something that is regrettable because it represents a grave loss not only to the farmers but to the nation as well. Surely the Minister and the Government can get ahead with this scheme. It should be much easier to carry out this scheme now because you have the headline set over the past years and the machinery that was so successful in eliminating bovine TB. We would have expected that it would only be a matter of time until the brucellosis scheme would have been extended right across the country. I understand from all reports that this disease certainly is rampant this year and there has been no step-up in the campaign to eradicate it.
I find, if I may refer back to Comhlucht Siúicre Éireann, that the policy of that company is designed to get rid of the small man, too. They certainly have not much time for the man with the acre or two and they believe that all the work should now be done by machinery. This does not help to stem the flight from the land. I feel that the social thinking of a big semi-State organisation should be governed by the people. They should give the smaller man a chance. I know that this year and last year the company just appointed one or two days on which contracts could be signed. If those who did not turn up on the appointed day had applications in for one or two acres, they just did not get a second chance to have them signed. That is very bad and it is something the Minister might perhaps look into.
We have many small farmers who should get a chance of growing the various crops that are open to them. They should have a better chance to work a proper crop rotation system. There are many farmers in the tillage areas who do not get barley contracts. It is virtually impossible for our small farmers to exercise a proper crop rotation system. The Department of Agriculture should interest themselves in these things.
There has been a decline of 23.4 per cent over the ten-year period 1951-61 in the number of agricultural labourers working on the land. The only hope of remedying this situation is by bringing the agricultural labourer's wages into line with wages available in industry. It is a disgrace to say that in rural Ireland the agricultural labourer's wage is below that which a man can get if he goes on the dole. That kind of situation does not entice anybody to work. In many parts of Ireland there are farmers who are looking for agricultural labourers but these men cannot work for them. If they do, they will lose a couple of pounds a week and you cannot expect a man to work when he can get a few more pounds for being idle. That must be changed; the entire system must be changed. Perhaps a step in the right direction would be to increase the employment allowance but I do not think that in itself would be sufficient.
If a person is working on the land and has to work hard—as they all have to do—he is entitled to a decent wage. With present prices for agricultural produce, too many farmers are unable to pay a living wage to their workers. We find that many of them prefer to go on the dole because they get more by doing so.
There is an alternative to the present agricultural policy of the Government. One thing that comes to mind is greater co-operation not only among farmers but, more important still, between the various State agencies who are trying to help, and are helping to a great degree, to improve the lot of the Irish farmer.
With regard to our advisory services, too much of the time of our agricultural advisers is taken up with the day-to-day problems that arise on the farms and too little attention and too little time are devoted by these advisers to the setting up of farm plans. These agricultural advisers must be complimented on their patience and on the work they do but the unfortunate thing is that when they work out a plan for a particular farmer, in many cases the finance necessary to put this plan into operation is not available. If an agricultural adviser gets to work on a plan and draws up a scheme which he thinks will work out and improve a particular farmer's income, a certificate from him should be sufficient to get whatever amount is necessary from the Agricultural Credit Corporation or the commercial banks.
Until we reach the day when there is full co-operation between the advisory services, the Agricultural Credit Corporation and the various sections of the Department of Agriculture, much of the work of these advisory services will be wasted.
Away back in 1955-1958 we had the Gilmore survey on agricultural credit in Ireland. That, as some will remember, was a very exhaustive report and Mr. Gilmore did a very good job on it. However, his findings were not, I think, given very much heed. I might say that his recommendations regarding the Agricultural Credit Corporation were availed of to some extent by the former Minister for Agriculture, but after that, the entire thing was shelved. That certainly seems a pity. If I remember rightly, Mr. Gilmore in his assessment of agricultural credit pointed out that the assets of the Irish farmers were something in the region of £885 million. That was in 1959 before which time total liabilities were only £75 million. Therefore, one can see there is ample scope for more credit to Irish farmers, if a proper plan is drawn up.
There should be some agency to ensure a farmer will get whatever credit is necessary, if the man himself has the managerial capacity to put the advice of his agricultural instructor to good effect. At the present time, such is not the case and so much good work is lost to the nation in that regard. As a matter of urgency, the Government should announce a scheme of guaranteed minimum prices for all farm products. The farmers must be the only section of the community who go out and work in the winter and spring; yet they have not an idea of what will be the reward for their labour in the autumn. This is something that cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely.
