There has been a 20% decrease in the total afforested area in Kerry in twelve months.
That’s according to the CSO’s Afforestation Area 2023 report, which shows a significant decline in afforestation areas in the county since 2007.
The figures show the area afforested in Kerry in 2023 was 98 hectares.
This is down from 122 hectares in 2022, which represents a year-on-year drop of 20%.
The 2023 figure is a decrease of over 82% when compared with the afforestation area in the county in 2007, when it accounted for 549 hectares.
Farmers owned more than 66% of afforested area in the county last year, at 65 hectares, while 33 hectares were listed as non-farmer.
Broadleaf accounted for the majority of afforestation in Kerry, at 52 hectares; with 58% of this on farmer owned land, and 42% on non-farmer land.
Conifer made up 46 hectares of afforested area in the county, with 35 hectares within farmer land, and 10 hectares located on non-farmer owned land.
