§ Mr. Biffenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the evidence of the incidence of vitas yellows in sugar beet in the United Kingdom; what advice is proffered by his advisory department; and if he will make a statement.
618Win the Official Journal of the European Communities. This is expected very soon. The varieties of fruit which it proposed should be eligible are Golden Delicious, Imperatore and Starking Delicious dessert apples and Passe Crassane pears.
Statistics of output are not available in the detail requested. The table below gives estimates of the total acreage of dessert apples and pears and of eligible varieties, within the member States of the EEC in 1974.
§ Mr. StrangEvidence of the incidence of sugar beet virus yellows is collected each week by fieldsmen of the British Sugar Corporation factories. This intelligence is co-ordinated by the Brooms Barn Experimental Station of the Agricultural Research Council. According to these reports, which have been kept since 1946, incidence has varied from less than 5 per cent. of the total acreage to over 60 per cent. in 1974, the worst year on record.
The advice preferred by my advisory department is suplementary to detailed advice available from the BSC fieldsmen. ADAS officers in the beet growing areas assist in the monitoring of this disease and have produced advisory literature on the subject.
It is difficult to make reliable forecasts, but present indications are that incidence will be lower this year than for some time.