§ Mr. Spearingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has further information concerning the reasons for the current shortage of potatoes; what action the Government has taken to alleviate it; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. BishopThe wet weather last spring resulted in potatoes being planted in far from ideal conditions and may have deterred some farmers from planting the full acreage intended. Growth was held back first by the cold late spring and then by the dry summer. The yield of the early crop was much reduced, and as the drought continued into the early autumn the development of the maincrop was also adversely affected.
The overall production from the 1975 crop is estimated to have been 2¾ million tons below that for 1974.
Although there was a 5 per cent. reduction in acreage of potatoes planted compared to 1974, this would not have had any significant effect if weather conditions had been normal and yields had increased in line with the steady upward trend.
The supply position in June and July was exacerbated by the substantial shortfall in expected supplies of new potatoes from Cyprus.
With the slow development of early potatoes, the Potato Marketing Board delayed the usual progressive introduction of larger riddle sizes.
As soon as it became apparent that the development of the maincrop was affected by the drought, the Government lifted the normal import ban. This has allowed potatoes to be imported from any country meeting our plant health requirements which could not be relaxed without the risk of introducing serious long-term hazards.
The Government also banned the export of ware potatoes—the kind that are normally used for human consumption.
The Board relaxed the riddle sizes tor the maincrop so that all marketable potatoes could be sold for human consumption.
Action was, therefore, taken very early in the maincrop marketing season to alleviate the position so far as possible.
More recently the United Kingdom has applied to the EEC Commission for the tariff on imports of potatoes from non-EEC members to be temporarily suspended. The tariff on maincrop has been suspended until 28th March, and a suspension of the tariff on new potatoes is under consideration.
The measures which have been taken to supplement supplies to consumers have 31W reduced, but could not have made good, the very large shortfall in the home crop. There is an overall shortage in Europe, and other countries as well as the United Kingdom are seeking additional imports. This means that the supply position will remain difficult until early potatoes are available in quantity.
We must expect prices to remain high over the coming months. Any artificial restraint on prices would encourage consumption and lead to a run down of stocks which need to be marketed in an orderly way to cover the remaining months of the season.