§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Ceredigion constituency, the effects on Ceredigion of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [154984]
§ Ms QuinAs most of the Department's policies flow from measures agreed within the framework of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, statistical data are normally available on a UK or Wales basis, but not disaggregated further. However farmers in the UK have benefited from this Government's policies to the tune of £1.35 billion since 2 May 1997 in addition to the figure of approximately £3 billion per year in direct CAP payments. Within this total, the value of agrimonetary compensation amounts to some £4,800 per average arable farmer, £3,200 per average dairy farmer, £1,400 per average sheep farmer, and £1,140 and £3,800 per average farmer for agrimonetary compensation related to the Beef Special Premium Scheme and Suckler Cow Premium Scheme respectively.
Hill farmers in Wales will also benefit from the funding which Government are putting into Tir Mynydd, the new support scheme for farmers in less favoured areas. Farmers in the Ceredigion constituency will also have 34W available to them all of the schemes available under the Rural Development Programme for Wales, which is backed by funding of around £0.5 billion over the period 2000–06.