Tenants and owner-occupiers of Scotland’s 18,000 crofts will next week receive a census from the Crofting Commission in a bid to build a better picture of the state of the sector.
The commission said there was a legal obligation for the tenants or occupiers of all crofts to complete the census, which must be filled in and returned by January 16, 2015.
The census is the first of its kind, but will become an annual piece of crofting paperwork, following implementation of the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.
Environment minister Paul Wheelhouse yesterday said: “If we are to ensure the best policies are developed to guarantee a sustainable, prosperous and exciting future for our crofting and crofters, it is essential we have as accurate an understanding of the current profile of crofting and crofters’ wellbeing.
“I welcome the action in gathering this information from crofters across the country. The data taken from this exercise will contribute towards optimising Scottish Government crofting policies and the work of the Crofting Commission in effectively regulating crofting and delivering a bright future for crofting for generations to come – something we all want to see.”
Crofting commissioners Marina Dennis and Murdo MacLennan yesterday said the census was not designed to catch crofters out, but instead find out if crofters were fulfilling their duties and if not, work with them to help them do this.
Crofters are required to be resident on the croft, or living with a 32 kilometre radius of it, and to make sure it is maintained.
Ms Dennis said: “If you send back your form and you are not fulfilling your duties we will investigate the situation and we will be able to help a crofter come to some agreement whereby they can fulfill their duties.
“People can apply for consent to be absent [from the croft] and they can let out their crofts.”
Results from the census are expected by late spring 2015.