THE BETRAYAL OF RURAL NORTH WALES

As I did a review of the North Wales economy last week, I thought I would do the same for the state of agriculture in North Wales to complement the article from Saturday.

As someone who was brought up on the Llyn Peninsula, an area where farming is in the blood of every resident, it has constantly surprised me how politicians have, during the last few years, forgotten the significance of agriculture to the local economy.

Indeed, it would seem that North Wales has suffered as much as any other since Labour came to power in 1997:

According to official statistics:

• the economic contribution of agriculture in North Wales has declined by 67 per cent during the period 1997-2007 as compared to an overall UK decline of 7 per cent
• whilst agriculture accounted for 2.5 per cent of the North Wales economy in 1997, this had fallen to 0.6 per cent by 2007. Indeed, agriculture was producing £175 million for the North Wales economy in 1997 but this had plummeted to £57 million a decade later. Unbelievably, this decline accounts for 8 per cent of the total reduction in overall UK agricultural output during this period.
• worst of all, if the relative contribution of agriculture to the North Wales economy had been the same in 2007 as it had been in 1997, then the sector would have been generating an additional £187 million in output that year.

Of course, such a massive drop in agricultural output has had a massive knock on effect on rural communities across the region resulting in depopulation, lower business activity and increased poverty.

Just imagine if an additional £187 million had been generated for the sector in North Wales in 2007. Most of that would have been circulated locally because of the nature of the industry.

Worst of all, many of those rural communities are the heart and soul of Welsh language and culture. Their decline economically will have a serious knock-on effect on a vital part of the soul of these villages and towns across rural North Wales.

It is a sad indictment of Welsh politicians at both Westminster and Cardiff Bay that this has been allowed to happen almost unnoticed over the last decade.

Is it because the Labour Party, until a week ago, had little or no interest in the farming industry? If so, then they should hang their heads in shame in allowing this industry, so vital to many rural communities across Wales, to decline so disastrously during this period.