The hay meadow programme
The hay meadows are the jewel of
the project area: not only are they an internationally important
site for endangered Maculinea butterflies, but also
harbour numerous other protected plant and animal species. They are
mown once or twice per year, not fertilized and grazed in autumn
and spring. The mowing date can be late in the year (July, August
and September) and is carried out in a mosaical way due to the
division of the meadows into numerous parcels. The land has been
farmed in this way for centuries but nowadays the meadows are
threatened by abandonment as well as transformation into sheep
pastures.
Most of the farmers who still mow
their meadows are also carrying out high quality nature
conservation, due to their low-impact land management methods.
These practices are valuable for maintaining biodiversity and
ecosystem services, and should be rewarded.
Despite this, and the high species
richness of the area, the project communes are not eligible for the
national subsidies for High Nature Value grasslands
(agri-environment). This is where our pilot programme came into
play: in 2011 it offered a payment for the mowing of selected hay
meadow sites (Fanatul Satesc, Fanatul Domnesc and Sekeliste).
Our requirements were modeled on
the conditions of the national agricultural subsidy scheme, with
two important exceptions:
• Payments were made only for mown
hay meadows, not for pastures.
• The mowing date had to be after
the 25th of August due to the life cycle of Maculinea spp.
butterflies.
The reward was 200 Euros/ha for
manual and 140 Euros/ha for mechanized (tractor) mowing.
Results (for both
communities)
Contracted surface: 33.5 ha
Mown surface: 20 ha (58%)
Manually mown: 7 ha (35%)
Mowing farmers with contract:
22
Conclusions
On the basis of our pilot subsidy
programme, we are able to give recommendations for the project area
but also draw some general conclusions for the agri-environment
programme in Romania. We found that:
• Farmers need greater access to
resources and services, such as affordable small hand mowing
machines and contractors for manual mowing.
• Summer grazing of hay meadows
should be prevented
• There should be separate
agri-environment packages for hay meadows and pastures.