§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list for each year since 1979 for the European Community as a whole (a) the amount devoted in the European Community budget to agriculture, (b) the estimate of the number of farmers in the European Community and (c) the cost per farmer of the common agricultural policy.
§ Mr. JoplingThe information requested is as follows:
(a) Cost of the common agricultural policy excluding fisheries Mecus 1979 10,834.4 1980 11,900.0 1981 11,531.0 1982 13,021.9 1983 16,582.0 1984 19,031.6 1985 20,594.7 The 1985 figure is for Budget appropriations net of transfers; those for earlier years are outturn.
(b) Censuses of Community farmers are not carried out on an annual basis. In 1977 the number of agricultural holdings in the Community of Nine and Greece was 6,520,000. For 1983, the latest year for which figures are available, the number of holdings in the Community of Ten is provisionally put at 6,518,000.
(c) On the basis of Community holdings of 6,520,000 the cost per holding of the common agricultural policy is
438W
Ecus 1979 1,662 1980 1,825 1981 1,769 1982 1,997
Ecus 1983 2,543 1984 2,919 1985 3,159