Call for extension of Burren farming programme

A PUBLIC representative is calling for a farming programme, worth €4 million to the North Clare area, to be extended beyond this year and for the number of farmers involved to increase fourfold.

 

The Burren Farming for Conservation Programme (BFCP) is due to end this year but Councillor Michael Kelly believes it is too important to be allowed to lapse and should be increased.

“The Burren Farming for Conservation Programme is an award-winning agri-environmental scheme designed to conserve and support the Burren communities, environment and heritage. Dr Dunford and his team are passionate about the scheme and the farmers in the Burren have bought into the conservation of this famous environmental area. This landscape is internationally famous and what has been achieved here through his programme is a template for at home and abroad,” he told The Clare Champion.

The BFCP began in 2010, based on findings of the BurrenLIFE Project and the number of farmers involved rose from 117 in 2010, to 143 in 2011 and 160 last year from a total of more than 350 applications.

The programme provides funding to farmers for measurable improvements in habitat conditions on participating farms. Programme manager Dr Brendan Dunford has said that following a call from the Department of Agriculture under the new Rural Development Programme, BFCP is making a submission with the objective of increasing the roll-out of the programme to 30,000ha and 650 farmers at a cost of about €4m to €5m per year.

“We think it is a great project for the Burren and the people of the Burren and anyone with an interest in the area. It is the only project of its kind to show the impact on the ground and where we can prove where we are giving really good value for money for the taxpayer as well. At the moment, we have maybe 160 farmers in the project but we want to see four times as many. We want to expand the scheme to accommodate the interested farmers and to do that, we need as much support from as near and far. Within the Burren, there are 1,200 farm families and within that maybe 700 are farming Burren land. About 160 of them are currently in the programme,” Dr Dunford stated.

“We are really looking for support from people advocating for the BFCP through the media and through their local representatives. The Burren is a remarkably special place. It is a farmed landscape, it depends on farming for its future and this is the only way to look after it for the future. We want everyone’s involvement in supporting the expansion of the programme into the future,” he added.

Councillor Kelly said he believes the scheme can and should be expanded.

“There are 160 farmers already taking part in the scheme with potential for the inclusion of 500 to 600 more. To date, 147 hectares of scrub has been removed, 84km of paths, 440 gates installed together with troughs, tanks, feed bins and 29,000m of limestone track. This is a huge amount of work done and is improving the face of the area so that its conservation and accessibility is maintained.

“The Burren is a living area, which has been acknowledged by Dr Dunford and his team in the Burren Life Project, which was the forerunner to the present programme. The BurrenLife Project was adjudged the best life nature award for 2010.

“The farming community in the area are fully supportive and monies allocated to them are on a scoring criteria of the amount and quality of the work done. Farmers in the Burren need this programme to continue and extend and it would be a huge loss if this great work was to be stalled at this juncture,” Councillor Kelly concluded.