§ Mr. ToddTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps her Department is taking to promote the use of peat alternatives in horticulture; and if she will make a statement. [62268]
§ Mr. MorleyPeat is a major constituent of growing media used in gardening and commercial horticulture. It is well suited to a wide range of uses and comes from a variety of sources in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and the Baltic states.
The UK Biodiversity Action Plan commits the Government to undertake and promote research and development into sustainable alternatives to peat and provide advice on the development and marketing of peat alternatives. The aim of the plan is for 40 per cent. of the total market requirements to be peat free by 2005 and 90 per cent. by 2010.
There has already been some substitution of peat by other materials, such as coir and bark, with some degrees of success. We have been funding seminars for the ornamentals sector for some time to increase awareness of and to examine the potential for using reduced-peat and peat free alternatives and to encourage commercial growers and others to take them up where they are already available.
However, it is recognised that substantial peat replacement will take some time to achieve and there are still considerable difficulties to be overcome in producing alternative growing media of sufficiently reliable and consistent quality to replace peat in the full range of its present uses.
We will be working actively with interested parties to build on progress made so far in this area. As part of this, we have decided to build on the work of the Peat Working Group by establishing a new group, under the chairmanship of DEFRA, which will bring together all this Department's policies that affect the production and use of peat and peat alternatives, and provide a forum for consideration of the various factors in working towards the targets for peat substitution.