§ Mr. Molyneauxasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to ensure a parity of return on milk produced by Northern Ireland farmers compared with that produced by farmers in other parts of the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartFollowing the Annual Review the United Kingdom average guaranteed price for milk was raised by 2.5p to 22.lp a gallon, but the guaranteed price for milk in the area of the Milk Marketing Board for Northern Ireland was increased by 2.9p to 21.95p a gallon. Thus the disparity in guaranteed prices has been largely removed. As a large part of the milk produced in Northern Ireland is sold for70W manufacture into milk products, producers there will derive particular benefit from the Government's decision to introduce minimum import prices for certain milk products from 1st July, as well as from the firm markets for milk products generally.
§ Mr. Molyneauxasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will abolish the standard quantity of milk for which a price is guaranteed and relate support for milk producers to the entire production at a common level.
§ Mr. Anthony StodartAs stated in the White Paper on the Annual Review and Determination of Guarantees 1971 (Cmnd. 4623), it is proposed that the method of supporting milk production, including the standard quantity system, should be reconsidered in the near future as part of the change over to levy arrangements.