§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what studies she has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the age structure of (i) full-time farmers and farm-workers and (ii) part-time farmers in Northern Ireland; how many (A) males and (B) females there are in each such category; and what were the figures (1) five, (2) 10 and (3) 15 years ago. [17356]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyInformation on the age structure of full and part-time farmers and farm-workers is collected in periodic EU Structure Surveys, the latest of which was carried out in 1997.
The numbers requested in part(II) of the question are:
Full-time farmers and farm-workers Part-time farmers Year Male Female Male Female 1997 20,835 1,487 12,693 1,886 1992 23,680 3,133 10,675 3,334 1987 26,774 3,632 9,517 3,029 1982 28,759 4,641 9,181 2,902