§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps are currently being taken to ensure that tobacco is not grown in any area of the Community where other crops can successfully be grown, as for instance in the area immediately round Naples.
Earl HoweEC Agriculture Ministers recently agreed reforms to the tobacco regime which will take effect from 1993 and will cut the amount of tobacco receiving Community support by about a quarter, to 350,000 tonnes, from 1994. Italian production receiving support will be reduced from nearly 215,000 tonnes in 1990 to 145,100 tonnes in 1993 and 132,800 tonnes from 1994, a cut of nearly 40 per cent. The reform also includes a programme designed to encourage conversion away from certain tobacco varieties—including two grown in the Naples region—to alternative crops or more marketable varieties of tobacco.