§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Minster of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the efficiency of agriculture in terms of output and value of output per person engaged in each of the EEC countries; and if he will list them in league order.
§ Mr. CurryMember states' shares of Community agricultural output are shown in column(a) of the table: information on gross value added—a measure of agricultural output—per annual labour unit on average is shown in column (b). The information provides only a broad guide to comparative labour productivity for the agriculture sector as a whole: comparisons are affected by exchange rates, including differences between green and market rates, price levels and many other factors including variations in the weather. Labour productivity is a partial measure of overall efficiency since it ignores other factors of production, notably capital: comprehensive comparisons of productivity are not available. Less than 15 per cent. of Community output is produced in member states with higher labour productivity than the United Kingdom whereas over three quarters of Community output is accounted for by member states where labour productivity on average is lower than in the United Kingdom.
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Share of Community agricultural output average 1987 and 1988 Gross value added1per annual labour unit average 1987 to 1989 (forcast) per cent. £2 (a) (b) Netherlands 7.7 22,400 Denmark 3.4 21,300 Belgium 3.0 17,000 United Kingdom 9.6 12,200 Luxembourg 0.1 11,500 France 23.2 10,700 Germany 14.4 10,600 Italy 18.9 7,100 Ireland 2.1 6,600 Spain 12.1 35,300 Greece 3.8 4,600 Portugal 1.7 1,200 1 Gross value added is the value of output minus current material inputs. 2 Rounded to nearest £100. 3 Relates to average of 1987 and 1988. Sources: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food calculations based on Eurostat information.
§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the state of agriculture.
§ Mr. CurryI refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Mr. Hunter) on 29 November,Official Report, column 1008.