Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 58: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if her attention has been drawn to concerns among farmers' organisations regarding alarming increases in the cost of farm inputs, particularly in the dairy sector; and her plans to counteract this. [17410/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Central Statistics Office measures the changes in agricultural inputs in the agricultural input price index, which it issues on a monthly basis. The costs of all agricultural inputs as measured by this index increased by 3.5% in the 12 months to February 2005, the latest figure available. Two of the major factors in the 3.5% increase to February 2005 were the rise of 15.1% in the cost of motor fuels and 10.2% in the cost of electricity. The comparable figure for 2004 was a fall of 8.3% in the cost of motor fuels, while electricity prices rose by 3.0%.

There is no doubt that the rise in the cost of fuel and energy prices is an issue for all parts of the agri-food sector, as it is for all other sectors of the economy. It underlines the need to use inputs in an efficient manner and to maintain and, where possible, improve productivity.