Written answers
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Department of Agriculture and Food
Farming Sector
10:00 pm
Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Question 614: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the number of new jobs that have been created and developed in farming since 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31664/10]
Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Number of Farmers
The following table 1 shows recent data on the number of farmers from the CSO's Farm Structure Survey for 2005 and 2007 and the importance of farm work to them in terms of being either a major or subsidiary occupation. Between 2005 and 2007, the number of farm holders decrease by 3.3% while the numbers reporting farming as their sole occupation declined by 9.4%.
| Table 1. Number of Farm-holders with Off-Farm Employment 2005 and 2007 | |||
| 2005 | 2007 | % change | |
| ('000) | ('000) | ||
| Importance of farmwork | |||
| Sole occupation | 73.5 | 66.6 | -9.4% |
| Major occupation | 19.7 | 22.4 | 13.7% |
| Subsidiary occupation | 37.4 | 38.0 | 1.6% |
| Not engaged in farmwork | 1.8 | 1.1 | -38.9% |
| TOTAL | 132.5 | 128.1 | -3.3% |
| Source: CSO, Census of Agriculture 2000 and Farm Structures Surveys 2003, 2005 and 2007 |
Employment in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
CSO's Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) data for 2005 to first quarter 2010 is shown in Table 2. It shows a 26% decrease in the number of people identifying agriculture, forestry and fishing as their main occupation/source of earnings in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the average of four quarters for 2005.
| Table 2. Employment in Agriculture, forestry and fishing by Gender, 2007-2010 | |||||||
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010(Q1) | 2010/2005 | |
| ('000) | ('000) | ('000) | ('000) | ('000) | ('000) | % change | |
| Male | 98.8 | 99.8 | 99.1 | 101.5 | 86.6 | 72.7 | -26.4% |
| Female | 10.7 | 10.6 | 11.4 | 13.1 | 9.4 | 8.0 | -25.2% |
| Total | 109.5 | 110.4 | 110.6 | 114.6 | 96.0 | 80.6 | -26.4% |
| Source: CSO, Quarterly National Household Survey, (quarterly averages for 2007, 2008 and 2009; Quarter 1 for 2010) |
No comments