News
9th March 10
3/9/2010
Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has urged DARD to take full advantage of their own land to increase forest cover following an answer to his question when the Minister revealed to him that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development was behind sche
Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has urged DARD to take full advantage of their own land to increase forest cover following an answer to his question when the Minister revealed to him that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development was behind schedule in meeting one of its key targets.
The Fermanagh and South Tyrone UUP MLA commented: "When the institutions were formed in Northern Ireland the Executive set about the development of the Programme for Government. When it was finally announced in early 2008 it included a number of commitments from the Government departments. These included a modest target from the Department of Agriculture of increasing the amount of forest or woodland by 1650 hectares by 2011. However when I recently inquired about the progress of the undertaking the Department informed me that as of December 2009 they had only seen an increase of 426 hectares. So when looking at it in the wider scheme of things; half way into the scheme the Department has only met one quarter of its target."
The Ulster Unionist agriculture spokesperson continued "It’s worrying that so little of the target has been met, however I am glad that the Department recognised that there was a problem and therefore I am pleased they increased grant rates of up to 30% last November in order to persuade landowners to take up the scheme, although the scheme has some problems. When I recently asked the Minister for a status update she informed me that there has now been a steep rise in the number of farmers applying for the scheme. In fact there was more than a threefold increase in December 2009 and January 2010 compared with the same period the year before."
"We have a growing need for wood and planting is also an effective tool for locking up carbon in the atmosphere. However it is not encouraging when we note that DARD is not prepared to utilise all of their own available land. In fact they have indicated to me in an answer that a 14 hectare portion of land near Enniskillen was unsuitable for planting in woodland because of the small scale. I would suggest that 14 hectares is a very reasonable size as many farmers would only be planting a small scale of maybe just two or three hectares."
Tom Elliott, who is vice Chair of the DARD committee at Stormont concluded by commenting "It is encouraging that more farmers are now considering the option of planting woodland on their property. However I would continue to urge anyone who is tempted by the idea to get in touch with DARD. Interest in the project has gone up in recent months but the Department still has a long way to go
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