Dr. ThomasTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list in theOfficial Report all successful United Kingdom projects chosen by the European Commission for research and development on agricultural technologies in the Eclair programme; and what proportion of the total projects allocated came from the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. CurryAll projects under the EC Eclair programme have to be joint ventures involving participants in more than one member state. In the first tranche under this programme, the EC Commission has selected 23 projects for contract negotiation in 13 of which there is United Kingdom participation. The projects concerned are:
- (a) optimisation of lignin in crop and in industrial plants through genetic engineering;
- (b) development and production of low temperature storage tolerant potato cultivars;
- (c) improvement of yield and food conservation in salmonids and maricultured fish;
- (d) improvement of storage capabilities of fresh fruits and vegetables through the biotechnological and technological control of ethylene;
- (e) development of improved strains of insect parasitic nematodes for control of insect pests in horticulture and agriculture;
237 - (f) development of liquid fertilisers based on naturally occurring seaweeds;
- (g) development of a delivery system for the oral administration of vaccines for the prevention of diseases in fish in agriculture;
- (h) development of environmentally safe pest control systems for European olives;
- (i) novel anti fungal proteins; applications in crop protection;
- (j) novel biosynthetic routes for biodegradation of polyhydroxy alkanoates made by genetically engineered strains of bacteria and plants;
- (k) amines: animal monitoring and identification;
- (l) European maize use in the starch industry in relation to growing areas and cultivation techniques; and
- (m) the development of biotechnology based in vitro production of sex-determination, freeze-storage and transfer of bovine embryos.