Mr. John D. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the response by farmers to the new agriculture set-aside proposals.
§ Mr. ViggersThe Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland has received 16 applications to take 180 hectares of land out of cereal production, mostly for permanent fallow and non-agricultural use. This represents about 0.36 per cent. of land given over to cereals in Northern Ireland. A further 82 farmers have registered 2,400 hectares for potential set-aside in future years. If all the registrations were followed through to become applications, 5 per cent. of eligible land would be taken out of production.