§ Mr. Brocklebank-Fowlerasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he can now announce details of arrangements to preserve the market for potatoes used in the manufacture of potato granules.
§ Mr. PriorFollowing discussion with the Potato Marketing Board and the other interests concerned, the Government have announced in the Annual Review White Paper published today that they are introducing arrangements for making supplies from the 1972 potato 119W crop available for potato granule manufacture at special prices, so as to retain this outlet for the home crop. These supplies will be purchased by the board, either directly from growers or through merchants, as part of the overall arrangements for providing guaranteed prices and assured markets to producers during the 1972–73 crop year, and will be made available to granule manufacturers at prices intended to be comparable with those paid by granule manufacturers in other parts of the world. Similar arrangements will apply in Northern Ireland. It is expected that these arrangements will effect a saving in the cost of the potato guarantee arrangements for the 1972 crop.