Boerenbond dissatisfied with the purchase of agricultural land in Lichtervelde

The coalition agreement of the Flemish government states that approximately 4,000 hectares of forest will be added to create more green areas. The Boerenbond has come to the conclusion that land in West Flanders is being purchased in agricultural areas for afforestation. The business guild of Lichtervelde, which promotes the interests of farmers in the region, is also not happy about this. They therefore ask that the purchased land not be arbitrarily used for afforestation.

Strategic purchase

In concrete terms, this concerns a series of plots on the Heihoek. These originally belong to a farmer who died in 2015. Since then, the plots have been decaying, but that will soon change.

The plan is to connect the purchased land with the forest on the Colpaert farm and the Huwynsbos of approximately 35 hectares. Thanks to this strategic purchase, the area forms a beautiful whole.

“Hallucinating price”

ANB announced this week that the agricultural land was sold at an average price of 11 euros per square meter. For the 33 hectares, this means a total amount of 3,630,000 euros, which the Boerenbond thinks is too much. According to notaris.be, the average price per hectare in West Flanders is 77,000 euros per hectare or 7.7 euros per square meter.

For farmers, this is a blow to their bill, because the Boerenbond fears that average land prices will rise as a result.