Munich (dpa/lby) - According to the Ministry of the Environment, over 130,000 new trees were planted in the first year of the "Bavarian Orchard Pact". Mathematically, this would be around 2200 football pitches of new meadow orchards. There are currently around six million orchard trees in Bavaria, the ministry in Munich said at the request of the German Press Agency. The aim is to add a million more trees by 2035 - about 17,000 football pitches more orchards.
"We stay on course with the orchard pact," said Environment Minister Thorsten Faithr (free voters). "With new staff and the right tools, we're taking the pact off the table and into the landscape." Therefore, 27 orchard managers were hired.
In October last year, the state government signed the "Bavarian Orchard Pact" together with numerous associations. The pact is intended to preserve and expand the current stock of orchards. According to the ministry, the stocks are endangered: they have declined by 70 percent since 1965. The state government wants to support the implementation of the orchard pact with over 600 million euros by 2035.
