The National Party will put another $70 million towards controlling pests in New Zealand.
Most of the funding, about $40 million, would go towards funding community groups to eradicate rats, possums and stoats.
National leader Bill English, announcing the funding in Tauranga on Saturday, said it would allow the Government to upgrade its efforts to make New Zealand predator-free by 2050.
The goal of making 1 million hectares of land free of predators by 2025 would now be able to be achieved two years earlier, he said.
The new funding, allocated over four years, would allow for the creation of special Department of Conservation (Doc) rangers who could advise community groups on pest control.
That would cost $8 million over four years.
Doc's baseline funding would be increased by about $5 million a year.
