2023-05-09 13:49:00
A valuable tool for decision-making and observation of agricultural trends, according to the Walloon Minister of Agriculture, Willy Borsus. “Thanks to this new tool, Walloon towns and municipalities will be able to benefit from this mine of objective and relevant information concerning their agricultural territory and act according to their own situation”, he believes.
From -13% to -85% of farms
Among the most striking figures, the one on the evolution of the number of farms. If the Walloon territory remains undoubtedly a land of agriculture, the number of farms has only decreased over the last 30 years. Overall, the whole territory is affected by a significant reduction in the number of farms, with a tendency towards a certain stabilization in recent years.
But there are sometimes significant differences depending on the location. In some municipalities, the fall is brutal, with sometimes decreases in the number of farms exceeding 70%. This is the case in La Calamine, Fléron, Erezée, Manhay… Elsewhere, in smaller municipalities where few farms were located, the reduction is obviously smaller, as in Engis, which went from 15 to 13 farms in 30 years.
More than 70% of farms have disappeared in Erezée, Manhay and Rendeux
Over the same period, the agricultural area used in Wallonia has changed little: from 752,743 hectares in 1990, it fell to 740,623 ha in 2021 (-1.6%). Farms have therefore continued to grow. Between 1990 and 2021, the average area per farm has more than doubled, from 25.8 ha to 58.2 ha. In some municipalities, the average size of farms even exceeds 100 hectares, such as in Wavre or Floreffe.
Proportionally to their area, the most “agricultural” communes are located rather in the north of Wallonia, the south being obviously more wooded than elsewhere and the size of the communes being generally larger. It is in Donceel, Wasseiges, Faimes, Celles and Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher that the agricultural area is the largest in relation to the size of the municipality, with more than 80% of the territory being used for agriculture.
New sheets by municipality are expected at the end of the year, further specifies the office of Minister Borsus, in order to meet strong demand from Walloon towns and municipalities.
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