§ Mr. Hurdasked the Minister of Agriculture if he has any statement to make about the position of pig and poultry keepers; and if the Government will compensate those who are driven out of business by the further cut in feeding-stuff rations.
§ Mr. T. Williams:Some immediate changes in the arrangements for feeding-stuff rations in Great Britain during the summer period have been made necessary by the reduction in the supply of animal feeding stuffs which will result from the flour conservation measures announced by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Food on 2nd May. Basic rations for farm pigs and poultry will have to be reduced in July, August and September, to quantities sufficient for one-twelfth of prewar numbers. Other classes of stock will also be affected.
I am asking farmers, in making their plans for livestock production, not to proceed on the assumption that the increased rate of extraction and the consequent reduction in the output of millers' offals will be maintained indefinitely. I hope they will make every effort to maintain livestock production in this difficult period, both by increasing their own self-sufficiency in feeding stuffs to the maximum extent through such measures as 85W silage making, and also by making the greatest possible use of unrationed feeding stuffs.
These reductions have been dictated by the world shortage of cereals and not by 86W any change in Government policy. I could not accept the view that a case for specific compensation exists or that any pig or poultry keepers will be driven out of business.