Farmers have been told a badger cull to tackle the spread of TB will only take place under certain conditions.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee (Efra) said culling should be given the green light to halt the spread of the disease in cattle in high risk areas.

However the committee said it would not be a suitable method in all areas and could not be applied nationwide.

And they warned that there was scientific evidence that "patchy, disorganised or short-term" culling could make things worse.

Farmers have been demanding a cull to stop spiralling rates of TB in herds, which the committee has described as "one of the most serious animal health problems" in the country today.

However the MPs said licences to cull should only be granted if conditions set by the Independent Scientific Group (ISG) and former chief scientific adviser Sir David King - who have disagreed on the effectiveness of a cull - were met.

They include that it should be done competently, effectively, be co-ordinated, cover as large an area as possible and where there are boundaries which will stop other badgers carrying the disease in from outside the cull area.

The report said the Government's strategy should include looking at more frequent testing for TB and introduction of post-movement testing in low-risk areas and more effective ways of encouraging farmers to practise good biosecurity on their farms.

It said in the long term the aim must be to eradicate the disease through vaccines for cattle and badgers.

The Efra committee report warned that with the annual cost to the taxpayer of the disease set to hit £300 million, "further procrastination" by the Government on its strategy was unacceptable.

The estimated 300,000 plus badgers in Britain are protected under various pieces of legislation, and culling would have to be have to be approved by the Government and licensed through Natural England.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said on Tuesday that he would study the report and is expected to make a decision soon on whether culls could go ahead.

The National Farmer's Union president, Peter Kendall, said with more than 4,000 cases for the first time in 2007, and 28,000 cattle slaughtered, it was time to act.

"We must attack this disease on every front before it destroys more cattle, damages more businesses, infects more wildlife, ruins more lives, and costs government and farmers even more money," he said.

The RSPCA's director of animal welfare promotion, John Rolls, said: "The evidence shows a policy of badger culling is unsustainable, uneconomic and, as this committee recognises, could even worsen the spread of bovine TB.

"There is overwhelming public opposition to a mass eradication of badgers by farmers. Surely to even contemplate such a move is political madness."

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