§ Mr. Hardyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will introduce arrangements to assist pig production during the next six months; and by what proportion he expects the national pig herd to expand during the remainder of the current year.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithI recognise that our pig industry faces a difficult situation in which competing imports benefit unfairly from a high level of payments of monetary compensatory amounts. It is the Government's aim to secure reductions in these payments. The most recent census returns available, December 1978, and the level of sow slaughterings subsesequently indicate that the pig breeding herd is unlikely to expand during the remainder of this year.