Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 February 2022
471. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applicants or members of the REAP scheme who have applied for afforestation approval under his Department’s afforestation grant and premium scheme for January 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10821/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Results-Based Environment Agri Pilot Programme (REAP) is designed to trial the results-based approach on a national basis and to test the upscaling potential of the model for inclusion in the next national agri-environment scheme to follow GLAS. REAP incentivises farmers to maintain and improve the environmental condition of their land while delivering an important financial support to farmers.
The programme will run to the end of 2022 and there are currently 3,740 participants in REAP, none of whom applied to afforest their land in January 2022
At applications stage, farmers could bring in between 2ha and 10ha of land with partnerships permitted to bring in up to 30ha. Almost 32,000ha of land has been assessed and scored under the 2021 REAP programme to establish its environmental condition. Farmers will work with their advisers to undertake environmental improvement works on the land that can increase the environmental score in year two. REAP will focus on improving existing farm features rather than the creation of new features and habitats. Farms with higher environmental scores will receive larger payments.
While parcels brought into REAP may not be converted to forestry during the term of the REAP contract, afforestation is fully compatible with REAP. REAP participants are subject to a maximum land area of 10ha for individual farmers and 30ha for partnerships of three farm holdings. The average REAP area under management per participant is 8.4ha. It is important to note that REAP is not a whole-of-farm project and that afforestation opportunities continue to exist for REAP participants on parcels that have not been selected for the project.
