Forestry and Hill Sheep Farming

HC Deb 16 December 1969 vol 793 cc278-9W

89. Earl of Dalkeith

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will estimate the gross value per annum averaged over a 50-year period at constant prices of the output obtainable from an acre of average hill land in Wales when growing Sitka spruce or Douglas fir and a similar acre of land devoted to hill sheep farming.

Mr. George Thomas

I estimate that at the end of a 50-year period the grass returns which might be expected from an acre of Sitka spruce or Douglas fir on average hill land in Wales would be of the order of £1,000. A similar acre devoted to hill sheep farming might produce on average about £9 a year throughout the period. Because of the time-lag in forestry, a comparison between these figures would not be meaningful.

Earl of Dalkeith

asked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will estimate the number of men directly employed each year on an average 10,000 acres of hill farming type land in Wales over a 50-year period when devoted to forestry and sheep farming, respectively; and if he will further estimate the ancillary employment due to transporting and processing the product.

Mr. George Thomas

I estimate that the number directly engaged in forestry in the hill areas of Wales would be about 80 per 10,000 acres and for hill sheep farming about 50 per 10,000 acres. I can make no reliable estimate of the numbers employed in ancillary activities.

Earl of Dalkeith

asked the Secretary of State for Wales how many acres of hill farming land in Wales, including National Parks, he estimates are suitable for afforestation; and what is the present acreage of such land under productive woodland management.

Mr. George Thomas

Of the 1½ million acres or so of hill land in Wales I am advised that about two thirds would probably be technically suitable for afforestation. About 320,000 acres of this type of land are already under productive woodland management.

90. Earl of Dalkeith

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what is the annual cost to the Exchequer in the form of direct grants and subsidies averaged over a 50-year period at constant prices of an average acre of hill land in Wales when devoted to forestry under dedication and hill sheep farming, respectively.

Mr. George Thomas

The present cost is about £1 10s. 0d. per acre for forestry and £3 per acre for hill sheep.