HC Deb 13 May 1999 vol 331 cc211-2W
Ms Drown

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much the Government spent on research and development relating to(a) organic farming, (b) genetic engineering biotechnology and (c) agricultural biotechnology at 1999 prices, in each of the most recent 10 years for which figures are available. [83241]

Mr. Rooker

Details of how much Government spent on the research and development of(a) organic farming, (b) agricultural genetic engineering and (c) agricultural biotechnology are shown in the tables. All the figures are given at 1999 prices.

(a) Organic farming
£000
Year MAFF SOAEFD BBSRC Total
1994–95 1,030 161 42 1,233
1995–96 950 178 14 1,142
1996–97 1,173 183 0 1,356
1997–98 954 192 0 1,146
1998–99 1,576 240 0 1,816

(b) Agricultural genetic engineering (including risk assessment research)
£000
Year MAFF DETR SOAEFD Total
1994–95 377 531 183 1,091
1995–96 1,827 419 625 2,871
1996–97 1,769 371 1,045 3,185
1997–98 1,876 647 1,618 4,141
1998–99 2.718 856 2,230 5,804

BBSRC could not provide figures for agricultural genetic engineering because it proved too difficult for them to separate agricultural genetic engineering from biotechnology.

(c) Agricultural biotechnology (excluding agricultural genetic engineering)
£000
Year MAFF SOAEFD DANI BBSRC Total
1994–95 17,347 4,002 unavailable unavailable 21,349
1995–96 18,260 6,393 unavailable unavailable 24,653
1996–97 21,173 6,805 1,000 unavailable 29,029
1997–98 23,339 7,429 1,000 113,800 46,318
1998–99 26,191 5,729 1,200 114,500 48,415
1As explained in (b), the BBSRC figures do not distinguish between agricultural biotechnology and agricultural genetic engineering

Further information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Forward to